Standing in an open jeep driven by a woman, Kiran Bedi waited for an old lady to come up to her and drape a red dupatta around her. The BJP's chief ministerial candidate gave a peck to a young girl, threw marigold garlands at women standing along the road and even broke into tears at one point.
Standing in an open jeep driven by a woman, Kiran Bedi waited for an old lady to come up to her and drape a red dupatta around her. The BJP's chief ministerial candidate gave a peck to a young girl, threw marigold garlands at women standing along the road and even broke into tears at one point.
In Krishna Nagar, where she was fighting her first election, 65-year-old Bedi seemed not the tough former cop but a caring woman warming up to her new role as a politician.
Her campaign began at 7.30am from her Uday Park home, as it has ever since she was declared BJP's candidate from the seat, which party leader Harsh Vardhan has been winning for over a decade. The union minister was not present by her side but his supporters were.
On the cold, cloudy Wednesday morning, residents, several of them women, came out to the streets to catch a glimpse of the person who was in the race to be Delhi's next chief minister. Amidst the deafening drums and slogan-shouting, Bedi tried to reach out through signs, smiles, flowers, kisses, expressions and occasionally a word. She waved at those looking down from balconies of rows of multi-storeyed houses lining the narrow lanes.
Precariously manoeuvring the jeep between the open drains along the streets, the driver Dr Manju Rakesh says the day she got to know that Bedi was a chief ministerial candidate, she quit her job as CEO of a company and came to help her in her campaign. "I decided to drive her on her road show. Its a symbolic message to show what women can do," says Manju, for whom Bedi has been an ideal since her childhood.
The BJP is banking on Bedi's "popularity" among women and Bedi has made "women security" one of the key planks of her campaign. "People have faith in me," she says as party workers shout "desh ki beti kaisi ho.... Kiran Bedi jaisi ho".
In what has been a BJP stronghold, Bedi may have an advantage, but the image of Arvind Kejriwal's AAP has not faded into oblivion.
"She can deliver," says Anil Bhatia, a Chartered Accountant who came out to have a word with her. Several others echo similar views.
But, Rajesh Nanda, a businessman, is of the view that Kejriwal should get another chance. His wife, Ruchi, a housewife, refutes this saying "he (Kejriwal) ran away." The people find Bedi honest, but nor do they doubt Kejriwal's honesty. His decision to quit after 49 days has left some apprehensions in the minds of people.
While the chief ministerial candidate devoted her entire morning to wooing voters in the seat, at the BJP headquarters, party leaders reviewed the election scenario two days before campaigning ends, amidst opinion polls giving AAP an advantage.
In Krishna Nagar, Bedi, in a red coat and sneakers, focused on reaching out to the voters on her own strengths– a friendly former cop, an effective communicator and a messiah of women empowerment.
She stopped once in a way getting off her cavalcade, to meet senior citizens in one place and kindergarten children in another. "Children are my weakness," she said.
Touched by the support, she could not fight back her tears. "I am at a loss of words. I will return this love," she said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}