Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal will be in Bangalore over the weekend to campaign for the party that debuts in the State in the Lok Sabha elections.
At a programme to introduce the party’s first set of 13 candidates on Tuesday, AAP’s Karnataka convener Prithvi Reddy said Mr. Kejriwal intends to travel “600 to 800 km” in the State over six days to garner support for the party. This weekend, Mr. Kejriwal would visit Bangalore, Chickballapur and Doddaballapur, and host a ticketed banquet priced at Rs. 20,000 and upwards to raise money for their campaign.
Representing “clean alternatives to corrupt politics”, the candidates, comprising software engineers, social activists and a farmer, donned the familiar party prop — a white cap bearing the image of a broom — and promised a change in electoral ethos.
All of them, barring the former Minister B.T. Lalitha Naik (who will contest from Gulbarga), are first-time contenders and are headed for a tough contest against seasoned politicians. The former Infosys director V. Balakrishnan, for instance, will contest against BJP’s P.C. Mohan in Bangalore Central and women and child rights activist Nina P. Nayak will take on five-time BJP MP Ananth Kumar and Nandan Nilekani in Bangalore South.
Asked if AAP candidates can hold their own against their well-established political adversaries, Mr. Reddy said that “integrity, not experience,” was the party’s forte.
BJP complains against AAP ads
The BJP’s State unit on Tuesday asked the Election Commission (EC) to direct the withdrawal of advertisements seeking votes for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) displayed on State-owned buses.
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, BJP State unit spokesperson Ashwathnarayan said the advertisements continue to be displayed on buses even though it was seven days since the announcement of the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections.
