Varanasi: AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who admitted he should have consulted the people before he decided to quit as Delhi chief minister and resign his government, has launched a major dialogue with voters here while calling for the defeat of BJP icon Narendra Modi.
The former Delhi chief minister sprung a surprise on the very day he reached this Hindu holy city to take on Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, in the Lok Sabha election.
On Tuesday, shortly after arriving here after an overnight train ride from Delhi, Kejriwal held a two-hour question-answer meeting with voters.
“Kejriwal removed whatever confusion and doubt I had about AAP. He talks like any common man, not like the fair-weather politician who surfaces once in five years to make tall promises and never shows his face till the next election,” Gharahu Ram, a cycle rickshaw puller, told IANS.
Gharahu Ram was one of the 2,000-odd people who gathered at the playground of a school to listen to Kejriwal. “I will hold hundreds of ‘jan samvad’ (interactive sessions) in the nook and corner of Varanasi till campaigning ends for the May 12 polls. People want to ask questions and tell me about their problems,” said Kejriwal.
AAP volunteers had distributed among the people small pieces of paper to write their questions meant for Kejriwal. People had started trickling in around 4 p.m. — and waited till Kejriwal arrived at 6.
After a brief speech in which he urged the people to defeat Modi in Varanasi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Amethi to unleash a revolution to wipe out corruption, Kejriwal answered questions from the audience.
Referring to the posters at the railway station that dubbed him a “bhagoda” (absconder), Kejriwal asked: “If I am an absconder, how come I am here to challenge Modi?” But he admitted that he should have held a referendum in Delhi before resigning as chief minister, the same way he sought people’s views before forming a minority government with Congress backing.
“I admit my mistake,” he said to a question as to why he did not consult people before taking such a drastic step. He dwelt at length on what he said was the nexus between the Congress, the BJP and corporate houses.
“If you vote either of the two parties to power, they will more than double the price of gas which will result in more expensive electricity, fertilizer and almost all essential commodities.” (IANS)
