No show on Road
Aam Aadmi Party’s road shows in Nagpur are lacking in response and the picture speaks more than words. Had it been the candidate other than Anjali Damania, the picture would have been different!
Nagpur News.
With Aam Aadmi Party reeling into trouble after the city administration denied and then retained permission for the road show and public meeting of its chief Arvind Kejriwal at Kasturchand Park grounds here on Thursday, the party got mired into another controversy yet again. Party insiders claimed that Nagpur Lok Sabha candidate Anjali Damania was initially reluctant to jump into the poll fray but later relented following continuous insistence from the party chief.
Sources close to Damania had allegedly overheard her saying that she was quite disinterested in contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Nagpur seat as she apprehended her lack of roots in the constituency may work against her. “Not only in Nagpur, Damania certainly lacked the poll quotient in other constituencies too. She is seen as businesswoman rather than the election material. Her commercial orientation too was deterrent to her candidature and she knew that, which is why she was not ready to join the poll fray,” the source added.
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08 April 2025
When Nagpur Today quizzed Anjali Damania about her preferences, she confirmed the news. Without mincing any words she quipped, “Yes I was neither willing to contest Lok Sabha polls nor Assembly polls due to my prior commitments with my family. Even I did not want to stick to one area as this could defeat my purpose of joining AAP as its State Convenor. In order to serve the party in wide perspective, I did not want to be pitched in the election. But there was intense debate in the party and constant persuasion from Arvindji (Kejriwal) that I should take on Nitin Gadkari (BJP) from Nagpur seat. So eventually I agreed to contest the polls.”
Nagpur Today tried to get AAP’s local leader Girish Nandgaonkar to have his say in this regard, however, he consciously avoided replying to any of the text messages sent to his cell in this regard. Nor he took any of the calls from Nagpur Today.
Insiders claimed that AAP higher ups had noticeably ignored the applications from many prospective aspirants vying for the party ticket from Nagpur LS seat. Among the prominent men who claimed their candidature included a President of renowned business organization, social activist Jammu Anand, pediatrician Dr. Uday Bodhankar among others.
Political experts feel that many of the aspirants bore the profile much stronger than Damania in terms of their Nagpur connection. Since the day Damania was declared candidate, there was no remarkable progress seen in her campaigning process. “She has been missing from the scene and least interested in working out on her image to attract voters by her side. Even the voters remained aloof from her poll activities and her antics failed to appeal the masses the way it was expected.
Sources further claimed that Damania’s lack of media management and her team of inefficient coordinators were also causing more harm than good. Recalling few such occasions where her media managers missed out on appointments to journalists, the source claimed that Damania’s too casual approach towards local media is playing major hurdle in getting her connected to grass root level. The source revealed an incident where Damania kept a senior scribe waiting for three long hours without any yield despite fixing appointment for interview on three occasions.
If current movements of Damania are anything to go by, it appears clear that she just wanted to let this election finish.
Rumours galore
Rumours are rife in the political circles here that Damania’s political move were actually on the behest of Gopinath Munde who wanted Damania to act as blockade to BJP’s candidate Nitin Gadkari’s win. However senior BJP leaders rubbished the rumours as just mind work, but that air of any such thing has created quite a stir among the BJP cadres!!
