Poll push picks up ahead of last day of filing papers
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up their election campaigns on Sunday, a day before the deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers for the polls in Delhi.
While the AAP raised the issue of jailed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested on March 21 in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22, the BJP accused the AAP of corruption, and of polluting the Yamuna.
Delhi goes to polls on May 25, with more than 140 candidates in the fray. The Capital has 14.7 million registered voters, spread out across seven parliamentary constituencies.
AAP: Kejriwal jailed to stifle his voice
Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal on Sunday said her husband — the AAP convener — was jailed to “stifle” his voice.
Holding a roadshow in Deoli in support of AAP’S South Delhi candidate Sahi Ram “Pahalwan”, Sunita Kejriwal spoke about the welfare policies of the AAP. “That is why these people put your chief minister in jail during the elections... So that Arvind Kejriwal’s voice does not reach you,” she said.
“They (BJP) have forcibly incarcerated your chief minister and my husband for the last 1.5 months. No court of the country has pronounced him guilty. They’re saying that the investigation is underway. If this probe continues for 10 years, will they keep him in jail for 10 years?” she added.
Separately, the AAP organised a walkathon at Rajinder Nagar to rally support for Kejriwal. The AAP candidate from the New Delhi seat, Somnath Bharti, along with Delhi cabinet ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai,
MP Sanjay Singh, and Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi walked with party workers wearing yellow T-shirts displaying images of the jailed CM and the slogan “Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se”, on them.
The party also installed a large symbolic “BJP washing machine”.
“We are highlighting how all the sins of the corrupt are washed away after they join BJP,” Bharadwaj said. Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said the walkathon was a way to reach out to the people.
“We are approaching the public and telling them how after 2014, this washing machine is washing away the corruption stains of corrupt people across the country after they collaborate with the BJP...,” he said.
“The way the Delhi CM has been wrongfully jailed, the people of Delhi will respond to it by voting (AAP) and all the seven seats in Delhi will go to the INDIA bloc,” he added.
AAP Delhi state convener Gopal Rai said the BJP has thrown Kejriwal in jail in the middle of elections without any evidence. “There is a lot of anger among the people of Delhi against the arrest. The people of Delhi are asking that why instead of seeking votes on the basis of his work, the BJP put a working CM in jail. A voice in unison is being raised from every corner of Delhi that this dictatorship of the BJP has to be removed.”
BJP hits out at Oppn
The BJP on Sunday stepped up its attack on the Opposition parties, accusing the AAP of being involved in numerous scams in Delhi, and alleging that the Congress has “destroyed” the Constitution over the last 50 years.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai made the remarks while addressing a gathering of party workers at the Delhi Tamil Sangam in RK Puram.
“Within Delhi, there is a government of a person who should serve the people, but is continuously involved in scams... Besides indulging in corruption in every department, the AAP government also polluted the Yamuna even more,” Annamalai said, referring to Kejriwal.
Annamalai, the BJP candidate for the Coimbatore seat in Tamil Nadu, also accused the Congress of trying to set a narrative against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Congress is trying to set a narrative — ‘Do you know why PM Modi wants 400 seats? Because Modi wants to destroy the Constitution.’ But if you look back at any party which has destroyed the Constitution over the last 50-odd years, it is the Congress,” he said.