NEW DELHI : Three key players — AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP’s Kiran Bedi and Ajay Maken of Congress — besides a number of other heavyweights today filed nominations for the February 7 Delhi Assembly polls as campaign for the elections picked up momentum.
Bedi, the Chief Ministerial nominee of BJP, and Maken led roadshows from their constituencies before filing the nominations while Kejriwal went straight to the election office.
Kejriwal had put off filing of his nomination yesterday after he failed to reach the election office on time.
Bedi will contest from BJP stronghold of Krishna Nagar while Kejriwal will seek re-election from prestigious New Delhi constituency where he had defeated Sheila Dikshit by over 22,000 votes in the last election.
“Our fight is not against any person or political party. It’s against corruption and price rise. Last time the people of Delhi had given us a huge mandate. I hope they will give us the full mandate for running the Government for five years,” Kejriwal said.
Before filing nomination, Bedi stoked a controversy by putting her party’s scarf around the statue of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai in Krishna Nagar which drew sharp criticism from Kejriwal.
Reacting to the incident, Kejriwal said that she should not “saffronize” freedom fighters.
The former IPS officer also met tea and newspaper vendors in Krishna Nagar before taking out her roadshow and enquired about the kind of issues they were facing. Bedi was accompanied by Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Goel.
Promising to bring a new kind of politics, Bedi said if voted to power, she will come out with a “white paper” for every Government department and initiate a “security index” to ensure better policing.
“Once we are in power every Government department will give us a white paper enabling us to find out where we are and where are we beginning from. To find out the pending issues, newer challenges. The reports will be put on the websites of the departments. We will give Delhi the Government it deserves,” she said.
After filing his nomination, Maken attacked Kejriwal and Bedi, accusing them of using Anna Hazare to fulfil their political ambitions. (AGENCIES)
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