The slog over campaigning for the high-stake Delhi Assembly polls saw a high-pitched drama on Monday as rivals pulled no punches in attacking each other with whatever they could grab on to, and then knocked at the door of the Election Commission to ensure fair play. While AAP used a reference to Arvind Kejriwal’s “gotra” in the BJP’s “advertisement” in leading publications to attack the rival and make an emotional appeal on caste lines, the BJP hit back by levelling grave charges of accepting black money against the “so-called” anti-corruption crusaders.
In the mist of all these bitter exchanges that made for minute-to-minute breaking news on TV channels, Narendra Tandon, the election in-charge of BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi, first resigned from the party over Bedi’s “dictatorial” attitude and then quickly did a ‘ghar wapsi’ after meeting party chief Amit Shah. Bedi was also in the news for an attack on her Krishna Nagar election office allegedly by a group of lawyers.
With opinion polls forecasting a keen contest, both major contenders for power seem desperate to win the battle of perception and influence over floating voters before the February 7 polls. Besides launching a major advertisement blitzkrieg, the BJP has roped in a huge number of MPs, MlAs and senior leaders to mobilise voters by holding roadshows, small and big rallies and establishing personal contact. The AAP has also brought hordes of volunteers from across the country and is using TV actors and social activists to send across their message of “alternative” politics.
Reduced to ‘also ran’ in this election, the Congress is targeting both these front runners. Though the party can draw consolation from impressive attendance at Sonia Gandhi’s rally on Sunday and Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow last week, how much of it will translate into votes is a matter of conjecture. The day began with the AAP fuming over the BJP’s advertisement published on Monday describing Kejriwal as belonging to a “upadravi gotra.” The AAP chief accused the ruling party of creating a caste divide, playing dirty politics, and targeting the entire Agarwal community. The former Chief Minister even filed a complaint with the Election Commission, saying: “The BJP in the past few days has been giving advertisements personally attacking me.
They attacked me and my children; I kept quiet because Anna used to say that if someone personally attacks you, you should have the strength to bear it. But today they have crossed their limit.” The BJP in turn said that AAP was the one violating the Model Code of Conduct by imputing meanings to the words used in an advertisement for political gains. “They are doing this so that they can benefit. The BJP treats all the castes as equal and does not believe in caste politics. The word ‘gotra’ used in the advertisement is as a metaphor, alluding to Kejriwal’s personal claim of being an anarchist,” said State BJP chief Satish Upadhyay.
The BJP also approached the EC on Monday alleging that the AAP was trying to give a ‘casteist and religious’ tone to a ‘political statement’ made by it in the advertisement. As leaders of both the parties went into overdrive to tackle the sensitive issue, the BJP faced an embarrassment when Kiran Bedi’s campaign in-charge Narendra Tandon resigned from the party stating that he “could no longer bear her dictatorial attitude.” However, hours later he withdrew his resignation by apologizing to BJP president Amit Shah and saying he “got carried away by emotions.”
Tandon, a former secretary of the party’ city unit and a permanent invitee to Delhi BJP’s executive committee, had sent his resignation in the morning to Shah, which was accepted. Tandon was general secretary of Delhi University Students’ Union in the late 1990s during his stint with the BJP’s ABVP. He rose through the party ranks and later became secretary of Delhi BJP when OP Kohli was made the city unit chief.
After the Tandon fiasco, it was the AAP’s turn to do some intense firefighting after a break-away volunteer group of the party dropped a bombshell by accusing it of receiving Rs 2 crores last year from four “dubious” companies. The AAP strongly refuted the charges and challenged the Centre to order a probe by any Central investigation agency including the CBI, but the BJP leadership held a detailed Press conference to question the fundraising.
The group, AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM) claimed that the money was donated to AAP on the midnight of April 15 last year. Karan Singh and Gopal Goel of AVAM alleged that four donations worth Rs 50 lakh each were remitted to the account of AAP from four different “dubious companies”. BJP swiftly attacked AAP by calling it midnight money laundering through hawala. “We can safely call it ‘hawala at midnight’,” Shazia Ilmi said. Ilmi quit AAP and recently joined the BJP. “The party has been talking a lot about transparency in political funding. The revelations show how this party used illegal and wrong route and indulged in money laundering through hawala and pumped in money into AAP’s political funding,” Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal said.
Calling the charges a conspiracy to tarnish its image, senior party leader Yogendra Yadav told a Press conference that, “We invite the Government to order an investigation before the February 7 polls itself by any of its agencies, be it CBI, ED, IB, Police, Army and subsequently arrest us if we have done anything wrong.” late at night at a Press conference, Yadav said that they will write to the Supreme Court to set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the funding of not just AAP but also the BJP and Congress.
Yadav said that the AAP has taken all its donations through cheques to ensure transparency and also insists on PAN card details for the transactions.“We’ve taken all donations by cheque.. We have a BJP Government (at the Centre). let it investigate. Please punish me if anything wrong is found,” AAP chief Kejriwal said when asked about the allegations.
Capping the day of drama was a clash between lawyers and BJP workers at the Krishna Nagar office of BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi. Reports said that three persons were injured in the incident. Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Beniwal said the clash was between a group of BJP workers and a number of lawyers who were raising slogans against Bedi outside her campaign office. learning of the clash Bedi who was out for campaigning tweeted: “My BJP constituency office in Krishna Nagar, am informed has been attacked. Informed some injured too. Cutting short rallies, rushing back.”