Battleground Amethi: AAP set to field Kumar Vishwas against Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party is set to field Kumar Vishwas, one of its prominent faces and a close associate of founder Arvind Kejriwal, against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha elections.

“Vishwas’ name has almost been finalised,” AAP member Sanjay Singh told ET on Friday, adding that the popularity of the poet-teacher from Uttar Pradesh made him a natural choice to take on Gandhi in Amethi.

Vishwas was not available for comment on the development, which took almost a week to concretise after his colleague Manish Sisodia made a light-hearted comment about his candidature.

He will be officially anointed the party’s candidate from Amethi only after his name is put to vote, said Singh, who had just returned from UP, but added he was confident that Vishwas’ candidature would be received well by the party’s workers and supporters in the state.

“His poetic skill is his biggest strength. He is the best person to launch a poetic but sharp attack against Gandhi and Congress’ dynastic politics which will be refreshing and endearing for the voters in UP,” said Singh, who, along with Yogendra Yadav has been given the responsibility of fleshing out the party’s game plan for the general elections.

The party had indicated soon after winning 28 of Delhi’s 70 assembly seats on December 8 in its first electoral contest that it would consider fielding candidates for the general elections.

Vishwas, a poet and teacher of Hindi literature, had met Kejriwal in 2006 through his childhood friend Sisodia. He played a significant role in mobilising support of the youth to the India Against Corruption movement two years ago and helped Kejriwal launch the party in 2012.

The party will deploy volunteers from across the country to reach out to the electorate in Amethi, Singh said.

Significantly, in the 2012 state polls the Congress had lost all five assembly seats that fall under Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. Political analyst Sudha Pai, however, said Amethi might be a very different ball game for AAP than New Delhi constituency.