The prestigious battle for Delhi has prompted the three major contenders to field their heavyweight leaders from across the country for the poll campaign.
The ruling AAP, which is facing a tough fight from the BJP that has stepped up the corruption heat on AAP leaders and promised to roll out a slew of welfare schemes, has also engaged leaders of its INDIA allies to campaign for the party on VIP seats.
Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP have announced their support for the AAP.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav campaigned for the AAP in the Poorvanchali-dominated constituencies of Kirari and Mundka last Thursday. The party’s debutant MP, Iqra Choudhary, led a march through the lanes of Nizamuddin, a Muslim-majority pocket of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s Jangpura constituency, and the student hub of Rajinder Nagar.
Trinamool MP Shatrughan Sinha is campaigning for AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister Atishi and four other candidates in whose constituencies there are a large number of Poorvanchali voters.
TMC MP Shatrughan Sinha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025.
The AAP’s Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, MP and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh and Jammu and Kashmir MLA Mehraj Malik have also campaigned inthe city.
Almost all BJP Union ministers and chief ministers are campaigning for their party in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Kartar Nagar and RK Puram. The party’s filmstar MPs, Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishen, are also holding a series of meetings in parts of the capital dominated by Poorvanchalis.
In the last leg of the campaign, the BJP is focusing on reaching out to working-class women with the promise of a dole of ₹2,500, which is more than the AAP’s pledge to pay ₹2,100 to each beneficiary.
The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are also holding multiple meetings in the city. Rahul, who had taken a break from campaigning due to ill health, has repeatedly questioned Kejriwal’s commitment to social justice and raised allegations of corruption against him in his speeches. This has become a cause for friction between the AAP and the Congress, with the former accusing the latter of colluding with the BJP.
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah campaigned for the Congress in Northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad last Wednesday.
Earlier, the Congress had roped in senior leaders from other states to announce its poll guarantees.
Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had flagged off the party’s month-long Delhi Nyay Yatra to reach out to voters. Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar had announced a monthly dole of ₹2,500 for women, which was further publicised by Jharkhand minister Dipika Pandey Singh. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had announced a ₹25 lakh health insurance scheme. Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy had announced that the party would give LPG cylinders at ₹500, free ration kits and free electricity up to 300 units. Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh had said there would be a separate ministry and budget for Poorvanchalis in Delhi.
