In the dusty and dirty lanes of Krishna Nagar, a strong undercurrent of sympathy for the Aam Aadmi Party is brewing.
Whether the undercurrent could garner enough strength in the next few days to engulf BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi is a matter of conjecture.
But it will not be a cakewalk for the former IPS officer, who was paradropped by the saffron party in the east Delhi locality from her upmarket south Delhi residence.
“I and my family would vote for the AAP. We don’t know who the candidate is but would vote for the jhadu (broom, which is the symbol of AAP). There has to be some opposition to the BJP, otherwise it would wield enormous power and could do anything,” a bank employee, who lives in the area told Deccan Herald.
The BJP fielded Bedi from Krishna Nagar, assuming it would be a safe constituency for her as it was retained by Harsh Vardhan since 1993. Vardhan won it by a margin of 43,000 votes in 2013, thanks to the rising popularity of AAP that cuts into the opposition vote share.
The opposition strength in the Krishna Nagar constituency was visible in 2008, when the good doctor managed a narrow win with a margin of just about 3,000 votes.
This time, AAP hopes for a consolidation in the opposition vote banks in lower-middle class and middle class localities in Geeta Colony, Jagat Puri, Anarkali Garden, South Anarkali, Ghondli Village, Jheel Khuranja, Rani Garden and Krishna Nagar.
From KPMG management trainee to rickshaw pullers on the road, a big section of the people wants to give the AAP a second chance, forgetting Arvind Kejriwal’s 49-days love affair with the government.
“Hawa jhadu ka saath hai... takkar barabar hoga (the momentum is with AAP, the fight would be neck and neck,” said rickshaw puller Aakash Paswan, who lives in Jagat Puri.
“The AAP slogan of bijli half, panni maaf (reduce the electricity bills by half and free water connection) has hooked the people. Everybody wants a reduction in the electricity bills,” says the bank employee whose family lives on the edge of Krishna Nagar for the last 50 years.
As the party top brass wants an impressive victory margin for Bedi, the infighting within the local BJP ranks is not helping Bedi. Being the Chief Ministerial candidate, she can offset some of the drawbacks of being parachuted in east Delhi, but support of Vardhan is a must for big margin.
Within the saffron party, there are whispers about rising differences between Vardhan and Bedi though the Union Minister accompanied Bedi in her first road show. While there are reports on the ENT specialist-turned BJP leader was asked by the party to “put in extra efforts” in his backyard, the responses to Bedi programme so far is lukewarm.
As a result of the AAP-BJP contest, Congress candidate Bansi Lal could well end up as also-ran.
DH News Service
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