LS polls: AAP holds public meetings, seeks support for INDIA bloc nominees

With Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal behind bars, AAP leaders on Friday addressed public meetings in different parts of Delhi to rally support for the opposition INDIA bloc's candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and Delhi minister Atishi held a 'Sankalp Sabha' as part of the AAP's 'Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se' campaign in Kalkaji assembly segment which falls under South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

The INDIA bloc has fielded Sahiram Pahalwan from South Delhi seat.

Singh said Kejriwal has done a lot for the people of Delhi, including reducing electricity and water bills and providing free travel facility for women in public buses.

"Therefore, it is an appeal to the people of Delhi that this time, give all the seven (Lok Sabha) seats in Delhi to the INDIA alliance and reduce the BJP's tally to zero," he said.

The people should elect a candidate who can stand with them at any time, Singh said.

"Sahiram Pahalwan will always be there for you and will fight for you in Parliament. If the BJP people win by mistake, they will take away your power to vote, they will take away Baba Saheb's Constitution and reservation," he charged.

"The INDIA bloc will win more than 300 seats and form the government," Singh asserted, adding that the BJP is losing across the country.

Atishi said people across the country voted for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with great expectations.

"People felt that perhaps their lives would improve, their children would get a good education and inflation would come down. But the BJP did nothing. In 2019, people again voted for the BJP with the hope that perhaps Modi ji would fulfil his promises.

"But 10 years have passed since the BJP government, Narendra Modi ji's government came to power and everything about it has proved to be a gimmick. There was no change in the lives of common people," she said.

Atishi said that within four days of the elections being announced, Kejriwal was arrested in a false case.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. He is lodged in Tihar jail.

AAP's Delhi state convenor and cabinet minister Gopal Rai held a 'Sankalp Sabha' in Krishna Nagar assembly segment of East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

"BJP leaders no longer have faith in Modi ji. They (BJP) changed their candidate out of fear. They thought that they had brought a new candidate earlier and now they will bring a new one. But this trick is not going to work this time," he said.

The INDIA bloc has fielded Kuldeep Kumar from East Delhi seat.

"If the BJP wins, the people of the country will lose the right to vote... Therefore, if we want to save the country from the BJP's dictatorship, we will have to forget who is Congress and who is AAP. Because if the BJP comes to power again, the Constitution will not survive," he said.

Delhi Assembly Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla and AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak held a public meeting in Rajinder Nagar.

Birla highlighted the AAP's commitment to women's safety, emphasising the need for voters to support the party to ensure their security.

All seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will go to polls in the sixth phase of the elections on May 25.