As, the AAP, the BJP and the Congress officially threw their hats for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections, on Wednesday, with respective CM candidates and hopefuls filing their nomination papers, Congress's Ajay Maken was revealed as the richest candidate, yet his nomination was least eventful. Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi ducked it out in a show of strength between the AAP and the BJP. Kejriwal filed his nomination at Jamnagar House for the New Delhi constituency, while Bedi filed from Krishna Nagar and Maken from Sadar Bazar.
Kejriwal came accompanied only by AAP's national secretary Pankaj Gupta, today was Bedi's day to make a stand. On the heels of Kejriwal's massive rally on Tuesday, she started out with a roadshow in Krishna Nagar, where the BJP made sure to appear united behind her, attempting to quell reports of massive infighting since Bedi's induction. Though Maken was accompanied by 500 supporters, they stayed subdued and desisted from going on a roadshow.
Bedi garlanded a statue of Lala Lajpat Rai with a BJP scarf and declared herself the "maali", the gardener, of Krishna Nagar. She claimed to join the BJP to end Kejriwal's style of "confrontational politics" and that RSS was a nationalist organisation that kept India "together". She added that facing Kejriwal in a debate would add further to the "drama". However, Maken seemed eager to take on Kejriwal, trying to push Congress into as much limelight as much possible.
There were last minute rumours on whether Kejriwal would also stand from Krishna Nagar to fight Bedi head on. These soon proved unfounded. Kejriwal said that his fight was against corruption, not any specific person. It was up to the people of New Delhi to elect the kind of person they want to represent them. Addressing Bedi's actions, he said that freedom fighters should not be saffronised.
Kejriwal's total immovable assets are 1.92 crore; a flat in Indirapuram worth 55 lakhs and inherited property in Siwani village, Hisar, 37 lakhs, in his name. In his wife, Sunita Kejriwal's name is a flat in Gurgaon worth 1 crore. Kejriwal's cash has reduced from 4 lakh to 2.26 lakh. Sunita also has a liability of 41 lakhs, 30 in house loan and 11 in a loan from relatives. Cases against Kejriwal have increased from 8 to 10, the two new ones under sec 144, disorderly public behaviour, during his dharnas.
Bedi's total immoveable assets are a little above 8 crore, with no liabilities, and total moveable assets are 3.46 crore. Maken's total moveable assets are around 4.6 crore and total immoveable assets are 11.40 crore. The latter have gone up from the 3.89 crore he had declared in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Kejriwal was greeted by a coterie of BJP supporters chanting "Modi Modi" and "Kejriwal bhagoda hai". However, AAP supporters soon rallied together, dancing and chanting their own slogans of "Paach saal Kejriwal". As the dance-off got intense, Congress supporters who had come for President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, filing her papers for Greater Kailash constituency, looked on in bemusement. One lady in a Congress scarf wondered why none of their people were dancing. The situation neatly summed up how each political party is placed in New Delhi.
Soon the Shiv Sena members too showed up and jumped into the fray.
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