Agencies/New Delhi


The party of firebrand anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal pushed ahead yesterday with preparations to contest India’s looming general election, just days after he dramatically resigned as Delhi chief minister.
Kejriwal’s upstart Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced its first 20 candidates in the election due by May, including those who will stand against the two main political parties.
“This is our first list of 20 clean candidates and we will be putting out more lists to contest from different parts of the country in the days ahead,” senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia told a press conference.
Social activist Medha Patkar will contest from Mumbai Northeast constituency while former banker Meera Sanyal will be the candidate from Mumbai South, which is currently represented by Milind Deora of the Congress. From Mumbai Northwest, Mayank Gandhi will be the candidate.
Anjali Damania will contest from Nagpur, a stronghold of former Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari.
Sisodia said: “While choosing the candidates, we have tried to prevent corrupt and people with criminal charges from entering politics.”
AAP leader Yogendra Yadav will contest from Gurgaon in Haryana while poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas will be fielded from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi constituency, which is a Congress stronghold and currently represented by its vice president Rahul Gandhi.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh also announced that Yogendra Yadav will be in charge of the party’s efforts for Haryana’s assembly polls, which are to be held later this year.
In the first list, over a dozen candidates are to fight from constituencies that are currently represented by the Congress. Only one BJP-held constituency figures in the list.
The AAP’s first list of Lok Sabha candidates includes party spokesperson and former journalist Ashutosh, who will contest from Chandni Chowk, a constituency currently represented by Law Minister Kapil Sibal of the Congress. Another journalist, Jarnail Singh, who hurled a shoe at then home minister P Chidambaram, will be in the race from west Delhi.
Mukul Tripathi will fight from Uttar Pradesh’s Farukkhabad constituency that is represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
Baba Hardev Singh, a former Uttar Pradesh state civil service officer, is being fielded from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. The constituency is represented by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh.
Khalid Parwez, a social activist, is to contest from Moradabad, which Congress MP and former cricketer Mohamed Azharuddin represents.
Lawyer H S Phoolka will contest from Ludhiana, the constituency of Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.
Subhash Ware will fight from Pune, which is represented by Suresh Kalmadi of the Congress.
Ashutosh said that every challenge was big and he believes the party will do well in the general elections.
“I take it as a challenge and we will get success as we got in Delhi. I have not planned what would be my strategy but will think about it,” he said.
The list was unveiled less than 48 hours after Kejriwal resigned as chief minister of Delhi, along with his cabinet colleagues, when the Congress and the BJP combined to thwart his efforts to introduce a new anti-corruption bill.