He is all set to hold a ‘referendum’ seeking people’s approval on his decision to take on the BJP PM candidate and star campaigner Narendra Modi in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in what promises to be the most prominent battle in the ensuing polls.
Kejriwal arrived in the holy city via train, and was greeted by his deputies in the party Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh along with around 350 supporters. They plan to hold a “Phaadu Debut” (rocking debut) for their leader.
The AAP chief has planned to interact with morning walkers, students and faculty at the Benaras Hindu University, retired executives and babus. He says ‘battle Varanasi’ will be no less than an epic battle.
A 25-member team of election strategists is busy in planning and executing their strategy with local flavour and says they are confident they will “humble” Modi in the Hindu holy city.
A team of volunters, led by Saman Qureshi from New Delhi, is holding 20-minute ‘nukkad nataks’, largely near the Beniyabagh ground where Kejriwal will hold his rally Tuesday. Saman, a niece of former chief election commissioner S.Y. Qureshi, says they have held 150 street skits in just 10 days.
“Through these skits we tell people about the value of electing the right candidate and take up the cause of the anti-corruption movement. We stress that their votes can make all the difference,” she said. Other volunteers in the ‘nukkad natak’ group come from Allahabad, Varanasi and Lucknow.
For the 350-odd AAP volunteers in the city depend on complimentary accommodation and food from locals.
Time to get cracking
Vaibhav Maheshwari, in-charge of media operations in UP, says he has left his fledgling IT business in Lucknow and an angry wife to handle their two kids and home all alone, says the battle will be more than symbolic. The 38-year-old IT entrepreneur says the outcome of the contest would be stunning.
He points to two types of people in the temple town — the elite and erudite rooting for Modi and a big chunk of have not’s who see Kejriwal as a beacon of hope.
“We have taken up issues like poor drainage, law and order, unplanned city planning, corruption, non-performance of past BJP representatives in the Lok Sabha, assembly and the municipal corporation for the present mess as the theme in our bulk mailers and social media discourse,” says Aniket Saxena from Lucknow.
In a one-of-its-kind ‘Buzz’ campaign in the city, volunteers stand at important interaction points and busy thoroughfares for two hours, carrying banners with slogans favouring AAP. They neither speak nor interact with anyone but just attract the attention of commuters.
