Delhi Elections 2015: An acerbic campaign where no one was spared - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: A look-back at the Delhi poll campaign reflects how the war of words among different contestants and parties unfolded one of the fiercest and bitter election narratives of recent times.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the tone for the election battle by making a veiled reference to Arvind Kejriwal as an "anarchist" in the first BJP rally at Ramlila Maidan.

"We need development here, not anarchy. They are good at dharnas. We are good at running government," the Prime Minister said.

After Kiran Bedi decided to make her political debut by joining the BJP, Congress came down hard on her terming it as "gross political opportunism".

Arvind Kejriwal welcomed his former comrades in arms with a politically correct tweet saying "I have been fond of Kiran Bediji. I always tried to convince her that she should join politics. I am happy she did it today".

However, the AAP niceties disappeared as soon as Shazia Ilmi followed Bedi and the verbal slugfest broke loose.

Ashutosh called Bedi's move of joining BJP as an "iconic political somersault and opportunism on her behalf".

The party dug out old tweets of both the former India Against Corruption members, the ones in which they had previously criticized Narendra Modi.

"One day, Namo (Narendra Modi) will have to respond with clarity about riot massacre," a tweet posted by Bedi on March 16, 2013.

AAP went on to say that Bedi was "parachuted" into BJP which can make her a "scapegoat" in case the party lost the elections.

"Bedi is a scapegoat ... Vijay Goel, Satish Upadhyay, Harsh Vardhan are plotting against her," Kejriwal said.

Kiran Bedi hit out at Kejriwal terming him as a "toxic" influence and his twitter account "polluting".

"His company is toxic. I felt it to an extent even when I was with him, but we had a common goal that the country must rid itself of scams and corruption," Bedi said.

In a tweet, she said, "I blocked him (Kejriwal) 15 months back when he called himself an anarchist. He was spreading negativity. Didn't want my four million followers to see negativity ... it was a polluting account".

As the controversy surrounding AAP's election funding erupted, a new saga of mudslinging was witnessed.

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