New Delhi:
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, addressing a public gathering in north west Delhi’s Rohini – a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stronghold -- said he was happy to hear Union home minister Amit Shah talk about schools and unauthorised colonies in the BJP’s campaign for the February 8 polls.
Keriwal, who is also the national convener of AAP, said, “Yesterday, Amit Shah held a rally in Delhi. I was very happy to hear him talk of schools, unauthorised colonies and hospitals. Aap logo ne Dilli ki raajniti toh badal di (You all have changed Delhi’s politics). Now Delhi will only talk of development. Caste and religion won’t work here. This time Delhi will vote for the person who builds schools, hospitals, roads, drains, installs CCTV cameras, and gives free water and power electricity.”
Kejriwal on Friday kick-started a series of public meetings from Rohini, one of the three assembly constituencies the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could not win in the 2015 elections.
The BJP’s Vijender Gupta (56), the sitting MLA from the seat and the leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly, is contesting for a second term. The AAP has fielded Rajesh Nama Bansiwala (41) from Rohini while the Congress has put its faith in first-timer Sumesh Gupta (48).
Bansiwala, who dropped out after standard 6 and now owns four prominent sweet shops in Rohini, said he had no political ambitions other than to work for the people of the constituency. “Right now, the MP, the MLA and the councillor in Rohini — all are from the BJP. Yet, even the trees are not pruned regularly, forget getting other works done. Rohini still does not have even a single mohalla clinic, people have to go to Ambedkar hospital, which falls in the Rithala seat. So, I am telling people that bringing an AAP legislator will accelerate development work in the area,” he said, adding he came to Rithala in 1992 before which he lived in Madipur.
{{/usCountry}}Bansiwala, who dropped out after standard 6 and now owns four prominent sweet shops in Rohini, said he had no political ambitions other than to work for the people of the constituency. “Right now, the MP, the MLA and the councillor in Rohini — all are from the BJP. Yet, even the trees are not pruned regularly, forget getting other works done. Rohini still does not have even a single mohalla clinic, people have to go to Ambedkar hospital, which falls in the Rithala seat. So, I am telling people that bringing an AAP legislator will accelerate development work in the area,” he said, adding he came to Rithala in 1992 before which he lived in Madipur.
{{/usCountry}}Kejriwal in his address appealed to the residents of Rohini to vote for AAP irrespective of their affiliations to the Congress and the BJP, and said he had worked like an elder son of a family. “Vote for your party in the next election. But this time vote for jhaadu…. I have tried to take all responsibilities on my shoulder by being an elder son of every household in Delhi in the last five years,” he said.
Having 1,82,638 voters, the Rohini assembly segment comprises mostly of middle-class households, most of which belong to the trading community. The area has a sizeable population of the Baniya community.
Gupta had won the 2015 election with a margin of only 5,367 votes beating AAP’s CL Gupta. In the 2013 election, AAP’s Rajesh Garg, who left the party in 2015 and will now be contesting as an independent, had beaten BJP’s candidate Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal by just 1,872 votes.
In the 2008 polls, the BJP had won the seat, beating the Congress. Prior to the delimitation in 2008, Rohini was part of the Badli constituency.