General Elections 2014: Day 35

The last leg of political drama
The last leg of political drama

The last leg of political drama

Slapped yet again!!! Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal was first garlanded and then slapped by an auto-rickshaw driver while he was campaigning in Northwest Delhi. He later tweeted, “Why am I being repeatedly attacked? Who are the masterminds?”

We are also wondering, Kejriwal. This is the second time you have been attacked in the past four days. Who can it be? Earlier, you had said that it is the handiwork of the Opposition parties. But today the Opposition parties have taken a stand and come down heavily on you saying that it must be some disgruntled AAP members and you have to stop accusing them. Some even went to the extent of saying that you may have orchestrated these attacks to be in the media glare.

On second thoughts, by slapping Kejriwal, are the attackers trying to be in the media glare? Could they be wannabes’ who want to become instantly popular. It is as easy as it can get. With Kejriwal refusing security, he is easily approachable. So wannabes’ just have to reach within close proximity and slap him and lo, they are all over the media…suddenly famous in their community.

Mundane thoughts apart! Yes, you are right Kejriwal when you say Sachai ki dagar badi kathin hai. Par last mein jeet to sachai ki hoti hai. The crux of the matter is that you also have to always ensure that you are truthful, come what may. It indeed is not an easy task to walk the path of truth.

Yesterday, someone had dared the Election Commission to remove few officers but today we hear that the state government has agreed for the transfer. We are talking about West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee who had threatened to resign if the EC transferred the officers. Later, her government agreed for the transfer but requested the EC to choose the replacements from the list that they have forwarded. The list did not contain the people EC has proposed. Did the EC fume? No, the EC is cool and has set the deadline of 10 am tomorrow to transfer the officers. We hear now that Mamata has relented. The storm loses steam?

Finally, the Congress has declared the candidate who will take on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal from Varanasi. It is Ajai Rai. “Naam toh itna suna hua nahi lagta”.

He is a local MLA and is supposed to have done lot of work at the grassroots level. Along with the work, he seems to have changed lot of parties too. Earlier, he was a BJP member, then he fought the 2009 elections as a Samajwadi Party member and now, he is a sitting Congress MLA. Where names like Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma were doing rounds for the Varanasi seat, Ajai Rai comes as a bit of a surprise. Well! Congress definitely would have its own reasons to field him from the most-watched out for constituency this election… and the reasons better be good.

Like Congress General Secretary Abhishek Singhvi has lot of reasons to hit out against the DMK. Accusing the party of breaking ties with Congress, Singhvi said, “Congress never disturbed the long-standing alliance with DMK. Gratitude must come from the regional parties whether they are in alliance with us or not. People who have woken up belatedly realising the strength and value of Congress should wait till May 16.”

Earlier DMK Chief Karunanidhi had said that it would offer post-poll support to Congress only if the “ungrateful party” expressed regret. Later, he went on to say that his party was ready to accept any “hand” of a secular party.

In another development, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav has asked a court to cancel bail granted to politicians accused of inciting riots in Muzaffarnagar. The riots had killed nearly 60 people and displaced thousand others.

To make people well acquainted with the leaders, the Internet search engine Google has launched a new tool by the name ‘Know your candidate.’ This tool will enable citizens to access vital details about political candidates and the Members of Parliament contesting from their constituency.

Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani’s daughter Pratibha Patel campaigned for her father in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar and the curtains have come down on the election campaigning in Delhi. Delhi goes to polls on Thursday 10 April and about 12 million voters are eligible to cast their votes.

Meanwhile, the war of words continues…

SP leader Azam Khan said that a Muslim was behind the victory of Indian troops in Kargil. To which General VK Singh, who is a BJP candidate and contesting from Ghaziabad promptly responded saying “Indians won the Kargil battle for India.”

Campaigning for his lone candidate from Vidarbha region, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray advised the farmers, “Do not commit suicide, that is not the solution. If at all you want to die, first kill those who have done injustice to you.” Now that is some encouragement…

Stay tuned with us as we watch the election madness unfold.

Related Information

Elections 2014

General Elections 2014

General Election Results

Varanasi Election Result

Gujarat Election

Gujarat Election Results

Indian Politics

Biography of Arvind Kejriwal