Setting the stage for a keen tussle for the February 7 Delhi Assembly polls, chief ministerial hopefuls, BJP’s Kiran Bedi, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and Ajay Maken of the Congress, filed their nomination papers on Wednesday.
While former IPS officer Bedi and Maken went in processions from their constituencies before filing the nominations, Kejriwal went straight to the returning officer’s office at Jamnagar House in New Delhi to submit the nomination papers as he had already held his roadshow on Tuesday.
Bedi is contesting from the BJP’s bastion Krishna Nagar while Kejriwal will seek re-election from the prestigious New Delhi constituency. Maken, entrusted with the task of reviving the dipping fortune of the party, is testing political waters from the Sadar Assembly segment.
The BJP put up a united front for Bedi’s roadshow on Wednesday after a show of dissent among party workers over ticket distribution on Tuesday. Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, who held the Krishna Nagar seat earlier, was seen standing with Bedi in the SUV as they waved at the enthusiastic supporters gathered there and negotiated narrow lanes of the constituency.
During the roadshow, Bedi said that she would initiate a “perceptional security index” in order to identify the unsafe areas of the Capital. Bedi also talked of having a “White Paper” for every Government department. “Once we are in power, every Government department will give us a White Paper enabling us to find out where we are beginning from. It will help us find pending issues, newer challenges. The reports will be put on the websites of the respective departments,” she added.
Bedi’s main challenger Kejriwal filed his nomination from Jamnagar House in an uneventful manner. The former Chief Minister arrived at 11.25 am in a grey Innova along with Pankaj Gupta and walked into Jamnagar House amidst thundering pro-Modi slogans that were being raised by BJP supporters in the area.
While Kejriwal was inside, there was a face-off between the AAP and BJP supporters, with one group chanting “Modi, Modi” and the other raising a cry of “Kejriwal, Kejriwal.”
“My biggest challenge in this constituency is corruption. It is my endeavour to get rid of this as soon as possible. The people of Delhi need to decide who they want as their representative, those who haven’t managed to get rid of corruption in seven months, or one whose main objective is to get rid of it,” said Kejriwal after filing his papers.
Meanwhile, virtually positioning himself as the third challenger for the Chief Minister’s post, Congress leader Ajay Maken, who filed his nomination from Sadar Bazar seat also claimed to be a crusader against corruption.
“When Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi were harbouring their political ambitions, running a movement, I was preparing to send Suresh Kalmadi to jail as the Sports Minister. I also acted against corrupt sports bodies in the country. I also brought a Bill to check unscrupulous builders as Union Urban Development Minister,” Maken said after filing his nomination papers. The Congress leader accused Kejriwal and Bedi of using Anna Hazare to fulfil their political ambitions.
“Both Arvind Kejriwal and Dr Kiran Bedi used to wave flags standing beside Anna Hazare. They got into politics by climbing on his shoulder,” he said. Meanwhile, as the BJP is trying to set its own house in order over accommodation of “paratroopers” in the ticket distribution, AAP also faced protests over last minutes change of its Mehrauli and Mundka candidates following an enquiry by the party’s “internal lokpal.”
Angry supporters of the Mehrauli candidate, Govardhan Singh, and Rajinder Dabas, the Mundka candidate, shouted slogans against the party outside Arvind Kejriwal’s Kaushambi residence. While Naresh Yadav has been named the party’s Mehrauli candidate, Sukhbir Dalal has been fielded from Mundka.