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Jostling for political space in Karnataka, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday hit the campaign trail in the state for the Lok Sabha elections, firing salvo at the media and claiming the state’s people were fed up with “corrupt” governance of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
Travelling in an open jeep, Kejriwal waved at and greeted onlookers, stopping every two or three kilometres to address people, presenting the nascent AAP as the only alternative to provide a “clean” government.
Lashing out at the media, Kejriwal asked if it had enough courage to expose BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. “Has media got guts to expose Modi? They are only repeating all lies he tells in campaign speeches about the so-called development in Gujarat,” Kejriwal said.
Continuing his attack, especially on news channels, Kejriwal said Modi’s development claims were hollow. “About 800 farmers committed suicide and about 16,000 small-scale industries shut down in Modi’s regime (in Gujarat). But these stark facts are neither shown nor reported. The question is which media house will dare to show that,” Kejriwal said.
Recalling his recent visit to Gujarat for a first-hand account and assessment of the much-touted development model, Kejriwal said corruption in Gujarat was no less than elsewhere. He added some sections of the media were deliberately misleading the people by bluffing about the development in Gujarat under Modi.
The AAP leader’s cavalcade meandered through several areas in the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Bangalore South, Bangalore Central and Bangalore North, all held by BJP at present. He was accompanied by his party’s candidates — former Infosys director V Balakrishnan (Bangalore Central), Nina Nayak (Bangalore South) and Babu Mathew (Bangalore North) — even as the road show caused traffic snarls at several places.
Kejriwal will hold another road show on Sunday in Chikkballapur, about 59 km from here, from where Union Minister M Veerappa Moily is the Congress candidate.
