Kejriwal kicks off AAP’s poll campaign in K’taka

BENGALURU: Kicking off the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s election campaign in Karnataka, party president and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday expressed confidence that his party will form its third government in the southern state after being voted to power in Delhi and Punjab.

Assembly elections in Karnataka are slated to be held next year.

“Our first government was formed in Delhi and then in Punjab (this year). Now, we will form our next government in Karnataka,” Kejriwal said at a rally, organised by various farmers’ body, led by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), here.

While the AAP came to power in Delhi in 2013, the party registered a spectacular victory in the Punjab assembly elections in February this year.

The Delhi chief minister also dubbed the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation in the state as “40 per cent commission government”.

Referring to the recent alleged suicide of a civil contractor who had accused former Karnataka minister K S Eshwarappa of charging 40 per cent commission, Kejriwal said: “Delhi has zero per cent commission government because there is a hardcore honest government in Delhi. Not a paise is taken as bribe.” Kejriwal also spoke on the recent instances of communal violence in Delhi, Karnataka and some other states on Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti.

“If you want riots, vote for them (indirectly referring to BJP). If you want education, vote for me... I don’t know how to start a riot or be rowdy but I can give education, healthcare, water, roads and a staunchly honest government,” he said.

Arvind Kejriwal