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Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar made light work of the challenge posed by Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, but was impressed with the high tech campaign conducted by the party for its leader Arvind Kejriwal’s rally on Sunday.
He also accused the party of spending huge amount of money for the campaign and wondered the source of the funds for a party, which is just a little over a year in power in Delhi.
“I don’t think AAP can make any dent on the electoral front in the State. But the party has definitely managed to create a hype in Goa,” said the Siolim MLA, while speaking to The Goan.
He said for a party which was just under two years in power in Delhi, such high tech campaign was very surprising.
“The party has managed to put posters and cutouts almost everywhere in the State. In my constituency alone, they have fixed around 200 banners,” the minister said.
Making a direct allegation of spending huge amount of money for the outstation volunteers in the State, he said AAP’s access to funds was questionable.
“Around 3,000 AAP volunteers from outside the State have come down to Goa. Do you think they will campaign for free? The party is spending a lot of money for their campaign,” Mandrekar said.
Giving AAP credit for its campaign down in South Goa, he said the party managed to create quite a euphoria in South, particularly in Salcete.
“For the last six months, AAP has managed to campaign actively in Salcete. I was in Velim last week and saw their posters in every nook and corner in the village,” he said.
Correspondingly, he said they have stepped in North Goa, particularly in Bardez, just a month back and were way behind to create any impact.
Dispelling the party’s challenge in his constituency, the minister said: “In the parliamentary election, the BJP had garnered a little over 12,000 votes, which was almost 2,000 more than what BJP had polled in the assembly. AAP’s candidate had polled around 700 votes in Siolim.”
