Pramod Acharya: In the last month, you had said that you are getting the feel that something massive is going to happen. What is the feel you are getting in Goa now?
Arvind Kejriwal: There is a strong undercurrent. The opposition and ruling parties are in complete disarray. Congress MLAs are leaving the party. In BJP, there is massive infighting. There is very strong anti-incumbency. There is a clear line which is dividing the AAP from other parties. AAP candidates are very clean. For the first time, Goa is seeing that such ordinary and honest people can enter politics. That is one thing that defines an election. This is what happened in Delhi. On one hand, people were fed up of the existing parties and on the other hand, they have hope in the AAP. If AAP comes to power in Goa, the first target will be corruption.
Q: There is fragmentation in anti-BJP votes, among Congress, smaller parties with good hold in their constituencies and AAP. Don’t you think that will impact the prospects?
Politics of Goa isn’t decided by which party and which candidate. It is decided by honesty. There are a plethora of parties such as Congress and BJP if you want to vote for dishonest candidates. I also want to caution the people of Goa, if you want to vote for honest politics, don’t let your vote be divided. Get together and vote for AAP.
Q: The entire polity in Goa has become bipolar. It is us against them. Don’t you think that is a little harsh?
Congress and BJP are like husband and wife. There is an underhand deal and setting between the two parties. When we rule, we will loot and when you rule, you loot Goa. When you come to power, you don’t take any action against us and when we come to power, we won’t take any action against you. In 2012, people voted for BJP with hope. But what happened? Parrikar took that Shah Commission report house-to-house saying Congress has looted Goa so much and if I come to power, I will send Congressmen to jail. Has a single person gone to jail? Has any inquiry been instituted? As soon as the elections were over, they dumped the committee report in the dustbin.
Q: An argument against AAP is that the party is controlled from Delhi. Some of your volunteers left the party leveling the same allegations.
I think that is completely absurd. BJP and Congress have their headquarters in Delhi and a local unit is here. Likewise, our headquarter is in Delhi and our local unit and leaders take the decisions here. People are
Q: How many seats do you think you can win in Goa considering the present situation?
The kind of undercurrent that has been building up over a period of time, I won’t be surprised if Delhi records are broken. The two rallies I addressed these days, drew good crowds. Out of 10 people at least six or seven people on the road will say they are voting for AAP.
