New Delhi: Pay Rs 1,100 for a trip to Varanasi on March 25, food included, screams an Aam Admi Party notice put up on the notice board at the party headquarters at Hanuman Road in central Delhi.
The AAP has begun gathering its volunteers to attend the party supremo, Arvind Kejriwal’s proposed rally at Varanasi on March 25. Sensing that the party does not have a major support base in the holy city, the leaders have come up with a plan to swell up the crowd with volunteers from various parts of the country. Mr Kejriwal, who had managed to defeat the former Delhi chief minister, Shiela Dikshit in the Assembly elections intends to take another gamble by pitching himself against the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Sources indicated that the main intention of Mr Kejriwal to contest against Mr Modi was “not to win but polish his political resume.”
At the rally in Raj Narayan Park, for which AAP has already sought permission, party sources told this newspaper that Mr Kejriwal would make the final announcement of his candidature.
The AAP functionaries are also giving an alternative option of a road journey to Varanasi in buses, but for this a volunteer has to pay only '600 and in this package too food is included.
“I have paid the money and registered as part of those volunteers, who are going to Varanasi. Banaras mein BJP wale Mahadev ke saath dhokha kar rahey hain aapne har har Modi ke naron se (In Varanasi BJP workers are demeaning Lord Shiva by shouting slogans like har har Modi). I am going there not only to support Arvindji, but also protect Baba Vishwanath (Lord Shiva),” said a volunteer.
However, political observers feel that Mr Kejriwal’s attempts to spruce up his political resume may boomerang. They claimed that in Varanasi the AAP chief is going to be caught between national ‘dabang’ Narendra Modi and local ‘dabang’ Mukhtar Ansari.
The don-turned-politician, who had fought the last elections in the constituency against BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi on BSP ticket, gave a tough fight with Dalit-Muslim combine backing him whole heartedly.
