If you want confrontations, vote for BJP, if you want work, vote for AAP: Arvind Kejriwal at bypoll roadshow

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday, appealed to the public to vote for his AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak in the bypoll election.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday hit the campaign trail in Rajinder Nagar and appealed to people to ensure victory of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Durgesh Pathak if they want development works to continue in the assembly constituency.

Exhorting people to reject the BJP candidate in the by-election, the AAP national convenor alleged that people are fed up with the BJP wherever they have won the elections as the saffron party follows "politics of confrontation" and knows nothing beyond "picking fights".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Rajesh Bhatia as its candidate for the Rajinder Nagar seat, which recently fell vacant necessitating the by-election after AAP legislator Raghav Chadha was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

'There is no use of voting for BJP' says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

"There is no use of voting for the BJP. If you vote for the BJP candidate, he can't get any work done. Those from the BJP keep fighting with us all the time," Kejriwal said while addressing people in a roadshow organised by his party in Rajinder Nagar in support of AAP candidate Pathak.

The Delhi chief minister said his government has done "a lot of work" in the national capital over the past seven years as his party follows the "politics of work", unlike the BJP's "politics of confrontation".

"In the last assembly polls, you made us victorious with a huge margin. I am grateful to you. This seat has fallen vacant. Once again, extend your love, trust and support to us and ensure our party's victory by twice the number of votes cast last time," Kejriwal said.

If you want confrontations, vote for BJP, if you want work, vote for AAP - Arvind Kejriwal

"You have to choose between the BJP's politics of confrontation or our politics of work. If you want work, vote for me (AAP candidate). If you want confrontations, vote for the BJP. I am giving you the guarantee that I will get all of your works done. After all, we have to work because it is our government," he added.

This was Kejriwal's first roadshow in Rajinder Nagar during which AAP candidate Pathak was present along with party's Rajya Sabha MP Chadha, former MLA from the assembly constituency, and Karol Bagh MLA Vishesh Ravi and other leaders.

Kejriwal to hold 2 more roadshows in Rajinder Nagar

According to the party, Kejriwal will hold two more roadshows in Rajinder Nagar--one on Saturday and another on Sunday-- to campaign for Pathak. Battle lines for the bypoll have been drawn with 14 candidates filing their nominations.

Of the candidates in the fray, the AAP, BJP and Congress have fielded one candidate each while three others are from unrecognised parties. Another eight candidates are contesting the bypoll as Independents.

The AAP has been winning the seat for the last two consecutive terms since the Arvind Kejriwal-led party came at the helm in 2015 while the BJP had last won the seat in 2013.
AAP's Vijender Garg Vijay had won the seat in 2015 and it was retained by the party in the 2020 assembly polls with Chadha defeating BJP's R P Singh by a margin of over 20,000 votes.

For the last six terms since 1993, the Congress, which has fielded Prem Lata as its candidate in the Rajinder Nagar bypolls, could win the seat only once in 2008.