Delhi polls 2015: Narendra Modi, Baba Ramdev doubles corner crowd attention

NEW DELHI: BJP chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi may have been the star campaigner at Timarpur assembly constituency in north Delhi but it was two men who stole the show. These were the lookalikes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

The duo stood inside an Audi and waved at the crowd. Their presence created an immediate stir with people trying to shake their hands or click their photographs. Though they came to know moments later that the men were not who they thought they were, it did not diminish their enthusiasm.

"I am Nandan Modi, Narendra Modi's younger brother. The PM is busy, so I am campaigning in all constituencies to garner support for BJP in Delhi elections," said Modi's lookalike, clad in saffron kurta-pyjama and a Nehru jacket. He even flaunted a close-cropped grey beard and rimless spectacles, strikingly similar to those worn by the PM.

Nandan's real name is Abhinandan Pathak and he is a resident of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. "I used to teach but left my job to canvass for Modiji," the self-proclaimed devotee of Modi said. Party workers said he had campaigned during the Lok Sabha election and the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana.

The lookalike of Ramdev, who was standing beside him, handed over his visiting card in the meantime. "I'm an office-bearer of BJP. We will do everything to make Bediji the chief minister of Delhi," he said, twitching his left eye just like his idol. Sanjay Talwar alias Babaji is from Mukherjee Nagar in north Delhi. "I, too, practice yoga," he said. He has also acted in some advertisement films.

In Indira Basti, which falls on the route of the BJP chief ministerial candidate's roadshow, the party workers had to request the lookalikes to move faster since they were taking the crowd's attention away from the local candidate and other campaigners.