Lok Sabha elections: Arvind Kejriwal hits trail running with roadshow today

NEW DELHI: The campaign of Aam Aadmi Party and INDIA bloc for Lok Sabha elections in Delhi and other states has got a shot in the arm with Arvind Kejriwal set to join it from Saturday.

Given interim bail by Supreme Court solely for the purpose of elections, the Delhi chief minister is losing no time in hitting the campaign trail. He will participate in a roadshow in south Delhi on Saturday along with his Punjab counterpart, Bhagwant Mann.

Kejriwal draws big crowds to his public events and will be the star campaigner for his party. In his absence, the party’s Delhi state convener, Gopal Rai, and his cabinet colleagues, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi, had stepped in. His wife Sunita’s roadshows were drawing crowds but couldn’t compare with Kejriwal’s chemistry with audiences.

An important constituent of INDIA alliance, AAP has fielded 22 candidates in five states. The party is contesting on four seats in Delhi as part of a seat-sharing arrangement with Congress and on two each in Gujarat and Assam and one in Haryana. It has gone solo in Punjab and is contesting all 13 seats.

While voting in Assam and Gujarat is over, Delhi and Chandigarh will go to polls on May 25 and Punjab on June 1. A senior party functionary said Kejriwal is likely to spend most of his time campaigning till May 23 – the last day of campaigning for the sixth phase of elections on May 25 – and will also go to Kurukshetra in Haryana. Since Punjab will go to polls in the seventh phase on June 1, the AAP chief may address rallies and participate in roadshows there after May 23.

“To show solidarity with the INDIA bloc, Kejriwal may intermittently go to other states where the alliance partners are giving a tough fight to BJP and campaign for them,” said the party functionary. “We will soon draw up a plan for his campaign after speaking to other alliance partners and keeping their requirements in mind. The leaders of other parties would surely like to come to Delhi and campaign for AAP and Congress here.”

The party is also likely to coin a new name for the campaign. After Kejriwal’s release on interim bail, AAP functionaries started using “Modi can’t stop Kejriwal” as a catchphrase.

Another AAP functionary said Kejriwal coming out of jail will prove to be a “gamechanger” for the INDIA group. He claimed the Delhi CM is much in demand in other states as well and his joining the alliance partners will bolster their campaign.

Minutes after the SC order, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said in a post on X said it will be “very helpful” in the context of the Lok Sabha polls. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar welcomed SC’s decision, saying, “India remains steadfast in the pursuit of democracy”. Aaditya Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) said justice and relief to Kejriwal against the “dictatorial regime” in the country was a huge sign of winds of change.

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