Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls due in December this year, state-based Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) chief Mahesh Vasava met Aam Aadmi Party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi on Monday. The meeting comes days after some Gujarat AAP leaders met the BTP chief and his elder brother MLA Chhotu Vasava at their residence in Bharuch district and invited them to form an alliance with the Kejriwal-led party. The BTP had contested the 2017 Gujarat Assembly election in alliance with the Congress and won two seats. However, the tribal outfit has of late distanced itself from the opposition Congress.

During his Delhi visit, Mahesh Vasava, the MLA from Dediapada constituency, also visited a government school and a mohalla clinic, the Gujarat AAP unit said in a tweet. Mahesh Vasava met Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal along with Gujarat AAP leader Isudan Gadhvi and discussed various issues concerning the tribal community and areas, it said. "After visiting the government school in Delhi, Mahesh Vasava said the educational opportunities among the tribal community can be increased if such schools are built in the tribal areas of Gujarat," the AAP stated in another Twitter post.

During a press conference on Saturday, Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia said that AAP has extended an invitation to the BTP for an alliance and make it strong ahead of the state Assembly polls. In the 2017 state polls, the Congress had won 15 out of 27 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, in alliance with the BTP.

But, in the June 2020 Rajya Sabha elections for some in Gujarat, both the BTP MLAs had decided to stay away from casting their votes, saying their party is an independent outfit which keeps a distance from both the BJP and Congress. Last year, the BTP had decided to sever ties with the Congress in Narmada and Bharuch district panchayats, and joined hands with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM).