These elections are about freeing Kejriwal, says AAP East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar

New Delhi: The youngest Lok Sabha candidate in Delhi from among the three prominent parties in fray, Kuldeep Kumar of the Aam Aadmi Party, said this election is a matter of emotions and anger over the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

From distributing newspapers during his student days to becoming a councillor, then an MLA and subsequently AAP's Lok Sabha candidate from East Delhi constituency, Kumar told PTI in an interview he has seen a life full of struggles.

Lok Sabha elections in Delhi will be held on May 25.

The son of a sanitation worker, Kumar says he is proud of his father. He has been an MLA from the reserved Kondli constituency but is contesting from a general seat. But he said he is not worried.

Going into the polls, the party has been hit by the arrest of its national convener Kejriwal on March 21 in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

"His (Kejriwal's) absence will definitely hurt us. That is why when this question of who will campaign for us comes, the people say they will campaign for us.

"The people of Delhi are campaigning for us. It is not Kuldeep Kumar or AAP fighting the polls, but the people who are fighting the elections," he added.

He said the 2024 elections are different from the previous ones.

"These polls are 'dil ka chunav' (election of heart). Yeh Kejriwal ji ko bahar laane ka chunaav hai (These elections are about freeing Kejriwal)," he said.

Kumar, whose day begins around 5 am and ends late in the night due to multiple campaigns and meetings, said wherever he goes, the people ask him about Kejriwal's well-being and when will he be out of the jail.

The Delhi chief minister is currently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with the case till May 7.

"The people ask us when will he come out and when will we bring him back. The second question is whether he is doing fine. The authoritarian government that has hatched a conspiracy against him can go to any extent to harm him," he said.

Kumar said the people are extremely worried. There is bound to be anger among the people if, in a democracy, you arrest a popular leader who works for the people's welfare.

"This time the people are angry. They are waiting for May 25 when they will choose the AAP," he added.

He alleged that the BJP had thought they will topple the government and break the party. But this is a "party that has been formed by the people of Delhi", he said.

"In the last eight years, I have never thought that I will work for one community. The AAP does not give ticket on the basis of your caste or your family background.

"If you have the potential, the party will stand with you. The people of Delhi have proved that such things do not matter and they vote for politics of development," he told PTI.

Kumar is pitted against Harsh Malhotra of the BJP. Ace cricketer Gautam Gambhir had won the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2019 polls.

He alleged that the BJP MP never had the time to meet the people. The distance between the MP and common people was like the gap between the Earth and the sky. The BJP has created such an image that an MP is a huge personality and does not meet the people, he added.

"This time, they want the people from among them and someone who is like them. If elected, I will bridge this gap between earth and sky.

"The people will be able to come to me and call me. Earlier, the BJP had brought Maheish Girri in 2014 and Gautam Gambhir in 2019 respectively, who are outsiders," he said.

He claimed that even Harsh Malhotra is not from this area and does not know about the issues here and said this time "the people of East Delhi will not fall for their promises".

Among the priorities that he has on top of his mind if chosen as the MP from the constituency, he listed out the issues of law and order, freeing encroached land and working to remove the Ghazipur landfill site with more vigour.

"There is the North Campus and the South Campus of Delhi University but no East Campus. Getting an East Campus will be my prominent demand. Working to get better connectivity through Metro will be another priority," he said.