NEW DELHI: The AAP on Tuesday began its Lok Sabha campaign— “Jail ka Jawab Vote se”—from Vishwas Nagar in Shahdara of East Delhi constituency.
Under the campaign, AAP leaders will visit every house in the four Lok Sabha constituencies where the party has fielded its candidates.
Gopal Rai, the AAP’s Delhi convenor, kicked off the campaign. He was accompanied by the party’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar. According to sources, Rai is expected to lead the campaign as Kejriwal is in the jail while AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh is on bail besides senior leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain still behind bars.
Claiming that Delhi’s elected chief minister has been “tyrannically incarcerated”, Rai said, “Today the Delhi chief minister can’t campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, from Tuesday, AAP workers are conducting a door-to-door campaign, delivering messages on behalf of Kejriwal and highlighting his achievements for the people of Delhi.”
Kejriwal has worked for the people of Delhi and that is why they voted for him, he said.
“If the people of Delhi want a working chief minister to be released from jail, the only way is to respond to jail with votes, to respond to jail with the ‘jhadu (broom, the AAP’s election symbol)’,” Rai said.
Rai, who is also a cabinet minister in the Delhi government, further said, “From today, the slogan ‘Jhadu ki Chot se, Jail ka Jawab Vote se’ will resonate in Delhi.”
He claimed that everyone he spoke to regarding Kejriwal’s imprisonment is “saddened”.
“They (people) are questioning why the man they elected chief minister has been put in jail during elections. Everyone has promised to give their answer in the elections,” Rai claimed.
“Voting is the power of the people and we believe that, after the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, people’s emotional connection towards him has increased even more. This time, everyone will come together to defeat this tyranny and bring Arvind Kejriwal out of jail,” he added.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
Contesting the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance with the Congress, the AAP has fielded candidates on four seats -- New Delhi, East Delhi, South Delhi and West Delhi. The Congress is contesting the remaining three seats in the national capital.