A day after Narendra Modi drove through this temple town, his opponent AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal on Friday began his roadshow from rural parts of the constituency and took a jibe at the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate’s “helicopter” visit.
Mr. Kejriwal also said that he was confident about his victory with a “huge majority” and accused BJP of trying every tactic including communal and caste politics, as well as “violence and bribing of media”.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader, who is pitted against Mr. Modi from Varanasi parliamentary constituency, said “people in Varanasi say how can a person who comes in a helicopter for a campaign of two hours, serve us?”
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“AAP is winning with a huge majority in Varanasi...Narendra Modi will suffer defeat as people of Varanasi know about the reality,” said Mr. Kejriwal, whose roadshow would be from Banaras Hindu University gate —— the same place from where Mr. Modi began his drive-through on Thursday.
The campaigning has suddenly heated up despite scorching heat with temperatures soaring past 45 degrees.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will also hold a roadshow on Saturday to seek vote for the party candidate Ajay Rai.
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Mr. Kejriwal, who was also expected to address a public meeting on Friday, has been campaigning extensively in Varanasi for about one month, especially in rural and minority-dominated areas.
All the top leaders of AAP are also in Varanasi, while Friday’s roadshow was being attended among others by Bhagvant Mann, Vishal Dadlani and Gul Panag, who also led a bike rally on Thursday.
Mr. Kejriwal also performed a Ganga Aarti on Thursday, even as Mr. Modi’s plans to perform the same could not fructify amid a major showdown between BJP and the election authorities.