The two final days of campaigning for the Rajouri Garden Assembly constituency seat in west Delhi saw Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani, and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal come out in support of Bharatiya Janata Party-SAD alliance candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa here.
Polling for the Rajouri Garden Assembly constituency seat will take place on Sunday.
Kejriwal slammed
Participating in a roadshow followed by a rally on Friday, Ms. Irani lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal. She accused him of having “betrayed the trust of the people and miserably failing to deliver” on promises he made during the last Assembly elections.
‘Successive defeats’
“The AAP will face the same fate it did in Punjab and Goa, and similar will be fate of the Congress, which is facing successive defeats in elections due to wrong policies adopted during the UPA tenure and while in power in Delhi,” the Union Minister said.
Terming the Rajouri Garden Assembly by-poll a “referendum” on the Kejriwal government’s two years in power, Mr. Badal had on Thursday evening said he was confident that Mr. Sirsa would register a “massive” victory.
‘Referendum of sorts’
“Basically, it’s a referendum on the Kejriwal government. It’ll reflect the feelings of the people of Delhi, who are deeply distressed by over two years of AAP rule,” the former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister added.
Mr. Badal further said that “more than 37” AAP candidates had “lost” their security deposits in recently concluded elections in Punjab, and that both the AAP and the Congress will face the “same fate” in the April 9 Rajouri Garden by-election.
Mr. Sirsa is pitted against Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandela and AAP’s Harjeet Singh in a three-cornered contest.
The seat fell vacant earlier this year after AAP’s Jarnail Singh quit to contest the Punjab Assembly poll against SAD patron and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Mr. Singh lost to Mr. Parkash Singh Badal.
