Gambhir slams Kejriwal over ‘negative politics’

New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said that he will work for making Delhi best place to live in and slammed state's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for doing "negative politics".

Speaking to the media in the national capital, Gambhir said: "Some people make promises of transforming Delhi into London and Paris. But our priority will be to make Delhi the best place to live in with good water and air."

He said that his vision is clear as he played cricket will full dedication and entered politics with honest intentions to serve people.

Gambhir said he has asked the party workers to not indulge in negative politics.

"We would not be doing the politics of criticism that others are indulging in...we would not be doing that. There should be a difference between BJP workers and other parties' workers... And the difference would be of fulfilling the promises of development being made to the people."

He also said that the main challenger for him in the 2019 elections is not the Congress and the AAP but the promises he has made to the people of city.

"The promises we are making to the people is our main focal point and we will work to fulfil that and take forward the legacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

He also said that politics is also like the game of cricket where team spirit is required to play well.

Hitting out at the Delhi Chief Minister, Gambhir said: "He has no vision for Delhi and for the country.

"He (Kejriwal) has a very negative vision. First, he criticises the party, then says sorry to them. Now, at this time, he is out with apologies. We have been watching how desperately he is trying to join hands with the party that he used to criticise and call corrupt earlier."

Kejriwal is contesting the election only to defeat Modi and Amit Shah, he said, adding that this vision is not going to work for the nation and that the country has moved much beyond negative politics.

He alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is raising the issue of full statehood to Delhi only to hide their failures.

"Delhi has seen development in the last few years. Previous governments also ran Delhi well. It is not that only AAP has run the Delhi government. Developmental works had been taking place earlier as well," he said.

"If you don't have the intention to work then you raise the issue of statehood. Four and half years ago years ago, people in Delhi did not know the issue of statehood. This is one political party which is trying to hide its failures behind the demand for full statehood," he added.

Asked about the Congress candidate Arvinder Lovely's jibe that he is on a picnic, he retorted by saying: "He (Lovely) should tell first whether he was on a picnic in BJP."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Gambhir from East Delhi parliamentary constituency, replacing outgoing party MP Maheish Girri. In a triangular contest, he is pitted against Congress' Lovely and AAP leader Atishi Marlena in the seat.

Gambhir had filed his nomination papers on Monday.

Voting is scheduled to take place in Delhi on May 12 in the sixth phase of seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP had won all the seven seats in the 2014 elections.

Besides Girri, the party has replaced North West Delhi MP Udit Raj with singer-turned-politician Hans Raj Hans.

The BJP has fielded Delhi party unit chief Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi, Meenakshi Lekhi from New Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Pravesh Singh Verma from West Delhi and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan from Chandani Chowk parliamentary seat.