Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that he would contest against Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the coming assembly elections, raising political temperatures in the Capital and called it a battle of corruption versus non-corruption.

 

The decision shows that the Aam Admi Party leader is serious with his political ambitions. “In this election, it is going to be corruption (Dikshit) vs non-corruption (Kejriwal). If Vijay Goel refused to join us in the battleground, his connivance with Dikshit will stand established,”Kejriwal said, adding Dikshit has become a symbol of corruption. Kejriwal raised the stakes higher by challenging BJP state president Vijay Goel to join in the battle against him and Dikshit. He said he would take on Dikshit irrespective of where she chooses to contest from.

 

The decision follows a large group of AAP volunteers requesting him to fight from Dikshit’s constituency at a convention organized by the party to select a possible seat for the leader. The final confirmation of Kejriwal’s candidature will come only after he completes AAP’s candidate selection process, which includes collecting 100 signatures from people in the constituency and is interviewed by the party’s screening and political affairs committees.

 

Kejriwal accused the BJP of being a “match fixer” which had in the last 15 years deliberately picked weak candidates against the Congress chief minister to allow her an easy win. AAP, which is expected to cut into BJP’s votes hare in the November polls, said the party had totally failed to play the role of an active opposition. “In the past many months, BJP has not done anything on its own but follow AAP. If we raise the power issue, two days later they jump into it. If our councilor holds mohallah sabhas in his ward, two days later BJP does the same. However, BJP councilors need air-conditioned tents to do the same,” said Manish Sisodia,senior AAP member.