Very strong pro-AAP wave in Delhi, similar to 2015 assembly polls: Kejriwal

There is a "very strong" wave in favour of the AAP in Delhi, similar to the 2015 Assembly elections when it won 67 out of 70 seats, party supremo and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday. Polling for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will be held in the sixth phase of the general elections on Sunday.

The AAP national convenor, in an interview to PTI on a wide range of topics, said Delhiites are "extremely happy" with his party's works in the national capital especially in the fields of education, health, water, electricity, road and sewage. He claimed that Hindus will not vote for the Congress, and the grand old party is now focusing on Muslim votes and this is borne out in its senior leadership, including Priyanka Gandhi, holding rallies in areas of Delhi that are dominated by the community.

"Till one month ago, I felt that there would be a very strong fight. But now I am feeling the atmosphere is similar to that of the 2015 Assembly elections when the AAP had a landslide victory," Kejriwal said. In the 2015 Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had won 67 out of the 70 seats, handing a humiliating defeat to BJP and Congress. The saffron party won three seats while the Congress drew blank.

Kejriwal said the voice against the Centre's "wrong" policies could be raised only when Delhi MPs are from a different party than that at power in the Centre. People of Delhi would benefit more by electing AAP candidates as they can raise issues faced by city residents in parliament more effectively than the national parties like the BJP and Congress, he said.

The chief minister claimed there is a "very strong" anti-incumbency against the BJP in Delhi as its MPs did nothing for the people of national capital. The BJP had won all the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in the 2014 general elections.

Giving individual examples, Kejriwal said there is a lot of "negativity" against incumbent BJP MP from New Delhi Meenakshi Lekhi, who, he claimed, has done nothing for constituency. "She insulted the people of her constituency so people want to defeat her," he said.

About Delhi BJP chief and its North-East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, Kejriwal said, "He has done nothing except dancing and singing in the last four years." The works of Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma, who is an MP from West Delhi, is also being questioned by the people of his constituency, he claimed, adding the in South Delhi are "tired of the hooliganism" of BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri.

The AAP national convener claimed that BJP candidate from North-West Delhi seat Hansraj Hans would lose comprehensively. Appealing to the people to vote for ending the "obstructions created by the BJP-led central government", Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not delivering any of the promises made by him in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"Modiji cannot say I built schools, hospitals, brought down electricity tariff, ensured drinking water supply. He failed in every sector. He has not delivered anything," he alleged. On his party's main poll plank of full statehood to Delhi, Kejriwal said once the demand is realised, it would help in fast-tracking development works in the national capital.

If Delhi gets full statehood, the city government would have been able to deliver thousand times more than what it has done till now, he claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)