Delhi elections 2015: Arvind Kejriwal,Kiran Bedi, Ajay Maken file nominations for assembly polls

NEW DELHI: Three key players -- AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP's Kiran Bedi and Ajay Maken of Congress -- besides a number of other heavyweights today filed nominations for the February 7 Delhi Assembly polls as campaign for the elections picked up momentum.

Bedi, the Chief Ministerial nominee of BJP, and Maken led roadshows from their constituencies before filing the nominations while Kejriwal went straight to the election office.

Kejriwal had put off filing of his nomination yesterday after he failed to reach the election office on time.

Bedi will contest from BJP stronghold of Krishna Nagar while Kejriwal will seek re-election from prestigious New Delhi constituency where he had defeated Sheila Dikshit by over 22,000 votes in the last election.

"Our fight is not against any person or political party. It's against corruption and price rise. Last time the people of Delhi had given us a huge mandate. I hope they will give us the full mandate for running the government for five years," Kejriwal said.

Before filing nomination, Bedi stoked a controversy by putting her party's scarf around the statue of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai in Krishna Nagar which drew sharp criticism from Kejriwal.

Reacting to the incident, Kejriwal said that she should not "saffronize" freedom fighters.

The former IPS officer also met tea and newspaper vendors in Krishna Nagar before taking out her roadshow and enquired about the kind of issues they were facing. Bedi was accompanied by Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Goel.

Promising to bring a new kind of politics, Bedi said if voted to power, she will come out with a "white paper" for every government department and initiate a "security index" to ensure better policing.

"Once we are in power every government department will give us a white paper enabling us to find out where we are and where are we beginning from. To find out the pending issues, newer challenges. The reports will be put on the websites of the departments. We will give Delhi the government it deserves," she said.

After filing his nomination, Maken attacked Kejriwal and Bedi, accusing them of using Anna Hazare to fulfil their political ambitions.

Maken, who is the Congress campaign committee chief, also said that AAP and BJP are two sides of the same coin as anti-Congressism "is their thought".

Kejriwal and Bedi, who have been named as the CM candidate by Aam Aadmi Party and BJP respectively, could align any time in future, he claimed.

"Both of them used to wave flags standing beside Anna Hazare. They got into politics by climbing on his shoulder. The Ps and Ss about which Bedi has been talking about these days does not include corruption, does corruption become a non-issue as soon as she got into BJP," he said.

"When both of them were harbouring their political ambitions, running a movement, I was preparing to send Suresh Kalmadi to jail as a sports minister," Maken told reporters after inaugurating his election office near Shastri Nagar metro station.

He then carried out a road show travelling in an open jeep along with hundreds of supporters that crisscrossed Sadar Bazar constituency.

Maken also challenged Kejriwal and Bedi for a debate on every issue pertaining to Delhi including electricity, water and corruption and said that if Bedi refuses to join it, he and the AAP chief can go ahead with it keeping her seat vacant.

"Even if Kiran Bedi doesn't want to debate I challenge Kejriwal for a debate at any place and on any channel. If Kiran Bedi won't come then we will leave her chair vacant," he said.

Highlighting achievements of the previous Congress government in Delhi, he said, "If Delhi is so advanced today, it is just because of our government's efforts.

Today is the last day for filing nomination for the Delhi polls which is scheduled on Feb 7. The results of the assembly polls will be released on Feb 10.

A number of senior leaders from various political parties including BJP's Jagdish Mukhi, Vijender Gupta, Nand Kishore Garg and Yogendra Chandolia filed their nominations.