New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party's Jamnagar North candidate Rivaba Jadeja heaped praises on her husband cricketer Ravindra Jadeja for supporting her candidature in the upcoming Gujarat Election.
"My husband is like a booster dose for me, who has always motivated me. More than myself, it has been him who has motivated me to go ahead. The system of marriage in itself means that both husband and wife should stand and support each other. It is said that behind the success of every man, there is a woman. Similarly, it is also important that behind the success of every woman, there is her husband and brother," she told news agency ANI.
"It was an emotional moment when I went to file nomination and he was with me. Want to inspire couples that women can fulfill their dreams even after marriage and their husband's support is strong," she added.
The BJP candidate targetted the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party saying that Gujarat has never accepted the tripolar election mode. "A party that has not arrived in Gujarat and not done development work - if you've not done anything how will people trust you? You can see BJP's development work. People trust them," she said.
In a surprise move, the BJP fielded Indian cricketer and Jamnagar native Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba, who does not have any prior experience in politics or contesting elections, from Jamnagar North. The ruling party dropped sitting MLA Dharmendrasinh Jadeja from the seat.
On Monday, cricketer Ravindra Jadeja said that his wife wanted to follow the path of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work for the people and she would learn a lot from her first-time candidature in the assembly elections.
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Former Gujarat minister Parshottam Solanki, seven-time MLA Kunwarji Bavaliya, Morbi 'hero' Kantilal Amrutiya, Rivaba Jadeja, and Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia are among the 10 prominent candidates who will be in the fray in the first phase of Assembly elections to be held on December 1.
In the first round, 89 of the total 182 Assembly seats will go to polls and prominent political parties have declared their candidates for almost all these constituencies.
Despite strong sentiment prevailing against the BJP in 2017 due to the Patidar quota agitation, the Congress could not seize the Patidar-dominated Katargam Assembly seat in Surat city which will also go to polls in the first phase.
Gujarat will witness second phase of polling on December 5. The counting of votes for both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will take place on December 8.