Bangalore: Ready to take on Modi if Varanasi wants: Kejriwal
Bangalore, Mar 16 (Agencies): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal today declared he was ready to take on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi but put a rider that he would do so if the people there want it.
Addressing a rally here, Kejrival said his party wanted him to contest against Modi and he accepts the challenge to face the Gujarat Chief Minister who should be defeated.
Kejriwal however qualified his statement saying that he would hold a rally in Varanasi on March 23 and would go by the people's response, indicating that he will take a final decision then.
"I will go to Varanasi on March 23. We will have a rally in Varanasi. Whatever people of Varanasi will say that will be final. If people of Varanasi decide to give me this responsibility, I will accept it wholeheartedly."
Kejriwal, whose announcement was welcomed with loud cheers from AAP's supporters, said "......friends, there was meeting within the party. The party told me that I have to fight elections against Narendra Modi."
"I know it is a big challenge. I know it is not a small challenge. We are not here for power or money. We have come here to sacrifice our lives for the country.....I feel I'm blessed if I get an oppertunity to sacrifice my life for the country as Baghat Singh did", he said.
The AAP leader's public declaration, though not definitive, comes a day after the BJP announced that Modi would be fielded from Varanasi, held by party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi who conceded the seat after reported hard bargaining.
"I have not come here for victory or defeat. We have come here for struggle. I accept this challenge," said Kejriwal who concluded his two-day visit to the state with the rally.
"I'm a small man. I don't have anything. I don't have money or manpower. You will have to fight this election. Commonman of this country has to fight this election," the AAP leader said as he poured scorn and vitriol on the Modi government in his speech.
"But I'm not accepting this election today. I will go to Varanasi. On March 23 we will have a rally in Varanasi. I appeal to the people of this country to come to Varanasi on 23rd," Kejriwal said.
He said, "the party has given me ticket but party giving ticket is not important to me. The day people of this country give ticket to me, I will fight against Narendra Modi."
Kejriwal also had a dig at Modi following reports that the BJP leader would fight the Lok Sabha polls from two constituencies, one from his home state apart from Varanasi, saying he was searching for a safe seat.
"Friends, I have been hearing for the past few days that Modi is preparing to fight this election from two seats. He is searching for one safe seat.... heard he will be contesting from one seat in Gujarat also...."
"....if he does it, it will be like he is leader of Gujarat but not fit to be Prime Minister of the country," said Kejriwal, who devoted good part of his speech to attack Modi and question the development model presented by him.
Kejriwal said, "....he has to contest from one seat. Contesting from two seats.. doubt will certainly arise in the minds of the people as to why he is searching for a safe seat."
"We want a brave Prime Minister. Do we after-all want a Prime Minister who is looking for a safe seat."
Kejriwal also said his AAP will be voted back in power in Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said people are tired of all other political parties.
"People are tired of Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, they are tired of Congress, NCP (Nationalist Congress Party), BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) in Maharashtra; in Karnataka, they are tired of both Congress and BJP as well," Kejriwal said.
"But if you ask people in Delhi, after the 49-day-long rule of AAP, they will say they are going to vote us back in Delhi," he said.
"Wherever you go in India, people are tired of the political parties, they want honest politics," Kejriwal added.
He particularly targeted the Congress and the BJP as well as Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and BJP's star leader Modi.
"People are of course angry with the Congress... Some say they will get only 100 (Lok Sabha) seats this time, some say only 50, some say only 25."
In the same breath, he said the electorate also felt betrayed by parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Indian National Lok Dal, Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Challenging Modi's claims of developing Gujarat economically, Kejriwal dished out facts and figures to show that this was not true and that Modi had spread "white lies".
He said that contrary to claims, corruption was rampant in Gujarat and 800 farmers had committed suicide in Gujarat since Modi took power in 2001.
Modi, he said, stood for "crony capitalism" and that some 60,000 small scale and medium scale industries had closed down in Gujarat during Modi's rule.
Kejriwal rubbished BJP criticism that he "ran away" by deciding to resign as the Delhi chief minister Feb 14 over the Jan Lokpal bill.
"Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned as the railway minister after a railway accident. Did Shastri run away from his responsibilities?
"We have not run away... When the next election takes place in Delhi, we will get more than 50 seats."
Don't elect Yeddyurappa, says Kejriwal
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday cautioned voters of Karnataka against electing former BJP ministers B.S. Yeddyurappa and B. Sriramulu in the Lok Sabha elections.
"If you elect Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu in this election, and if (Narendra) Modi becomes prime minister, he will make them telecom and mining ministers in his government. And you know what they will do... going by their track record in the state," Kejriwal said at a public rally here.
Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu, who rejoined the BJP recently, are contesting from Shimoga and Bellary reserved (ST) Lok Sabha constituencies in the April 17 parliamentary polls in the state.
Yeddyurappa resigned as chief minister in July 2011 after he was indicted by the Lokayukta for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore-rupee mining scam in Karnataka.
Sriramulu, who quit the BJP in September 2011 and floated a regional party BSR Congress, is a close confidant of jailed former BJP minister G. Janardan Reddy, who is also allegedly involved in the mining scam.
Asserting that the people of Karnataka were dejected with both the national parties, Kejriwal said that though the Congress returned to power after the state assembly elections last year, its government inducted "tainted" men like D.K. Shiv Kumar and Roshan Baig into the cabinet.
"You voted out the corrupt BJP government and brought back the Congress hoping the ruling party will root out corruption. You see what its government has done by making Kumar and Baig cabinet ministers," Kejriwal told the crowd of about 10,000 people, who assembled at the Freedom Park in the city centre.
Reiterating that people across India were fed up with corrupt political parties, the former Delhi chief minister said the same people were rooting for an honest party which will work for their welfare.
"In the last 10 years, the UPA government looted the country through various scams in 2G, coal block allocations, Commonwealth Games, airport projects and natural gas. The amount of loot was more than what the British had looted from this country during its 200-year rule in India," he said.
Earlier Report
Kejriwal campaigns against Moily in Chikkaballapur
Chikkaballapur, Mar 16 (IANS): AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday urged the electorate here to defeat Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily of the Congress in the Lok Sabha election.
"Corrupt ministers like Moily should not be elected again as he had colluded (with a corporate house) to increase gas prices that will further fuel price rise," Kejriwal said in Chikkaballapur, 70 km from Bangalore.
The Congress has re-nominated Moily, a former Karnataka chief minister (1992-94), to contest from this rural constituency where he won in 2009 though he hails from the coastal Dakshina Kannada district, about 350 km away.
A day after hectic campaign across Bangalore Saturday, Kejriwal drove on a hot afternoon to Chikkaballapur in a convoy to seek votes for AAP candidate K. Arkesh, a retired police officer, contesting against Moily.
He introduced Arkesh to a motley crowd at a traffic junction.
"It is harmful for the country if leaders like Moily are allowed to loot the nation's wealth," Kejriwal said.
As part of its anti-corruption drive, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to contest against 'corrupt' politicians like Ananth Kumar and B.S. Yeddyurappa of the BJP in Bangalore South and Shimoga parliamentary seats in the state.
The AAP has fielded social worker Nina Nayak against Ananth Kumar and social activist G. Sridhar Kallahalla against Yeddyurappa in the Lok Sabha polls to be held April 17 in Karnataka, which has 28 parliamentary seats.
As Kejriwal is unwell and looked tired after campaigning in Gujarat and Maharasthra, his road shows in other assembly segments of this Lok Sabha constituency were cancelled.
He returns to Bangalore to address a public rally in the evening.