Kejri brands Rahul, Modi as corrupt

He left out prominent leaders like J Jayalalithaa, Naveen Patnaik and Mamata Banerjee, besides TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu and the Left parties with whom the AAP is hoping to sew up an alliance in the post-poll scenario. He is hoping to get their support, if AAP surges ahead, vis-à-vis other political parties, in getting an impressive tally of seats in the Lok Sabha.

The AAP has already stated that they would contest 350 seats in the Lok Sabha elections all-over the country. It aims to touch a tally of at least 40 to 50 seats, which will help the AAP to strike a bargain with the regional parties and if the miracle in Delhi Assembly elections is repeated in the Lok Sabha, the AAP may lead a coalition government at the Centre.

While the Congress is building its campaign by branding Rahul as the youth icon and BJP is weaving its campaign around Narendra Modi with focus on providing good governance and development, Arvind Kejriwal is repeating his poll plank of corruption in the Lok Sabha polls, on the lines of the Delhi Assembly polls, hoping to rout both the Congress and the BJP.

Kejriwal pointed out that both Rahul and Modi have spent Rs 500 crore each to build their brands and will tax the people to recover the same. “How can they deliver good governance?” asked Kejriwal.

The Delhi Chief Minister read out the list of corrupt leaders and taking the approval of his party men, he named 15 Ministers out of the 25 politicians, whom he termed as the corrupt politicians. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, former Railway Minister Pawan Bansal, Suresh Kalmadi, MPs Naveen Jindal and Annu Tandon and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, all belong to the Congress, against whom the AAP will field its candidates to wipe out corruption in the country.

From the BJP, besides Narendra Modi, Kejriwal also included former BJP President Nitin Gadkari, former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Anant Kumar. Gadkari has threatened to sue Kejriwal for defamation. From the DMK, A Raja and Kanimozhi were included in the list, facing criminal charges in the 2G Spectrum scam. National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, BSP Supremo Mayawati and SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav are also in the hit-list of Kejriwal, whom he wants to be defeated in the upcoming polls.

By fielding candidates against all these leaders, AAP has declared its agenda of not only taking its opponents on corruption but also making it clear that the prominent faces are no more elected in the general elections. As happened with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Kerjriwal is hoping to rout big names in the Lok Sabha polls so that they have no face to lead their respective parties after the polls. Interestingly, most of the Ministerial names from the Congress belong to the Joint Drafting Committee set-up to prepare the Lok Pal Bill when social activist Anna Hazare had launched the Jan Lok Pal agitation. By sounding the poll bugle on the issue of corruption, Kejriwal intends to bring back the focus on corruption, his initial poll plank and side-step other vital issues, relating to the inflated electricity bills, law and order problem, shortage of water of Delhiites. Since he has bigger aim of becoming the Prime Minister, Kejriwal has now set his sights on the Lok Sabha polls.