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Kejriwal hopes to replicate Delhi victory in Varanasi
The party plans to deploy its top leaders Yogendra Yadav, Shazia Ilmi and Manish Sisodia, among others, in Uttar Pradesh, says Somesh Jha
To improve its chances in Varanasi, the Aam Aadmi Party’s strategic team is getting its act together to turn the holy city into a mini national capital. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's top team will camp in Varanasi after the Delhi polls to step up its attack on Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Hoping to replicate its notable victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, the party has made Gopal Mohan the campaign in-charge of Varanasi. Mohan was the party's campaign manager in the New Delhi constituency where Kejriwal defeated then Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit by 20,000 votes.
The party plans to deploy its top leaders, including Yogendra Yadav, Shazia Ilmi, Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh, and Somnath Bharti in Uttar Pradesh once the leaders - who themselves are contesting -- complete polls in their respective constituencies.
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Kejriwal hopes to replicate Delhi victory in Varanasi
According to party sources, the idea is to field a representative for each community so the party is able to spread its wing across all the sections. "Shazia (Ilmi), for instance, will be asked to campaign in Muslim-dominated areas and Rakhi Birla, a Dalit face, will interact with Dalit voters," said a party source.
"These leaders will keep travelling to nearby constituencies, too, including Amethi," said Deepak Bajpai, AAP's media coordinator.
Kejriwal was joined by almost all top leaders of the party, including its Amethi candidate, Kumar Vishwas, North-East Delhi candidate Anand Kumar, Sisodia, Bharti, on stage during the public address where the AAP chief had announced he was contesting against Modi.
The party might look to hold a similar jansabha in Varanasi and expects all top leaders to share the same stage. Kejriwal is expected to arrive in Varanasi on April 14 and will also visit the nearby constituencies of Allahabad and Amethi.
The AAP convenor has clearly stated the party's main goal is to defeat the top leadership of the BJP and Congress -- Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, respectively.
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Kejriwal hopes to replicate Delhi victory in Varanasi
"Both Modi and Gandhi are our main targets…No matter whichever party gets the majority, if both of them are defeated, the country will win," Kejriwal had told Business Standard in an interview.
Many leaders such as Yadav, Ilmi and Anand Kumar would be free from their respective elections only on April 10, when their constituencies will go to polls. As many as 15 former members of the legislative Assembly of AAP from Delhi, including all the former Cabinet ministers, will also campaign in Varanasi.
"We will hold hundreds of local meetings daily with these top leaders in Varanasi. We would do everything that we did in Delhi and we are confident about the win," said Mohan. To step up the fight, the party has formed various teams to interact with different sections such as women, youth, farmers, weavers in the constituency, a party source said.
These teams adopt different methodologies such as projectors, nukkad meetings and door-to-door to convey the message to the citizens.
