AAP leader files nomination from Varanasi
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal files his nomination papers to fight elections against BJP leader Narendra Modi.
Leader of India’s Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party, Arvind Kejriwal, has filed his nomination to fight elections from the holy city of Varanasi against Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist leader widely seen as the front-runner to be country’s next prime minister.
On Wednesday, Kejriwal was greeted by an army of supporters wearing his party’s white Gandhian caps as he drove to file his nomination papers in the ancient temple town.
“People have showed up in large numbers, people of Varanasi have showed up. We don’t have money to lure people for our campaigns, we are small people, we don’t have any money. This time the people of Varanasi have made up their minds and they want to bring change. They neither want Congress party not Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This time, they need change in the system,” Kejriwal said.
He was also accompanied by some other leaders of his party.
Kejriwal is involved in a three-way fight with Modi and India’s ruling Congress party candidate Ajay Rai. A eunuch is also contesting from the same constituency as an independent candidate.
A relentless anti-corruption crusader, Kejriwal, is seen as the dark horse who could upset the best laid plans of the main two parties in the Indian political landscape with his brand of fearless politics not afraid to take on powerful figures.
The activist turned politician stormed to popularity after tapping into the veins of urban anger over corruption among the political class, and is now becoming a possible third choice of the middle class voters, confused between divisive but charismatic Modi and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty heir, Rahul Gandhi.