NEW DELHI: After 51 days of custody, the AAP headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, appeared agog with excitement on Saturday. The party workers seemed jubilant with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding his first press conference after almost two months.
Kejriwal received a roaring welcome from the party workers who were eagerly waiting to get a glance of him. His SUV accompanied by security personnel penetrated through a sea of people donning yellow scarves minutes before the scheduled time of the PC amid the loud chants of “Kejriwal zindabad (Long live Kejriwal).”
The party workers said they dearly felt the absence of Kejriwal during the Lok Sabha polls campaigning. “Without Kejriwal, the campaign was a dud. He is our biggest crowd puller. Things will now change. Whatever little days are left, I think he will blow a new lease of life in the campaigning,” said Samarth Kulhad, party worker from Rajinder nagar.
The party workers went inside the headquarters’ premises when the press conference started. Outside, remained curious passersby and those who claimed to come in a show of solidarity with Kejriwal. They watched their leader speaking through a large projector canvas where the live feed of the PC was being broadcasted.
While the BJP is trying to tie the image of corruption with Kejriwal, this notion was absent among the people present there.
“Only revolutionaries are jailed. He is the toughest competition to BJP that is why he was sent behind bars right before polls,” Abdul Majeed, an auto rickshaw driver who was there to support Kejriwal.
Among the supporters, there was one ardent fan who came way back from Kolkata only to tell Kejriwal that “he is doing a good job.”
“I hopped on the next train to Delhi after I heard that Kejriwal is getting bail. He is amongst very few who are doing a good job and I’m here to tell him that,” said 50-year-old Naresh Gupta from Bada Bazar in Kolkata.
The jabra fan even shared his dream of watching Kejriwal taking oath as India’s PM in 2029.
Post the conference, a feast was organised by the party for the people who were conversing about how the elections would be impacted with Kejriwal’s release.
While the over enthusiastic people exhumed confidence in clean sweep by the AAP and its alliance partner Congress, there were people who admitted that the development would definitely swing the votes in opposition’s favour but also admitted that the BJP still has an upper hand on several seats.