Nagpur, Feb 17 PTI: Maharashtra irrigation scam whistle-blower and AAP nominee Anjali Damania today said she is determined to take on BJP heavyweight Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency here, in order to keep exposing his corrupt ways and alleged involvement in many more scams.
"I was reluctant to fight a poll earlier because of my small kids but in the changing scenario, when AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal gave away his chair of Delhi Chief Minister to fight corruption in the country, how can I sit back home ? Hence, I agreed to the party nomination," Damania told PTI.
"In 2011, I had exposed Gadkari's nexus with NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, and since then I have collected enough material to expose his five more scams..Now I am ready to face and fight him in the 2014 LS polls," Damania said.
In her first full-fledged interview, Damania said she is aware that were will be a lot of mud-slinging (in the coming days) and therefore she is braced for a vicious campaign.Damania, who blew the lid off the multi-crore irrigation scam, is now all set to root out corrupt leaders from politics. "Our fight is against corruption and we want to bring a change and now is the time to begin and bring it," she said.
"They (BJP) are accusing me of being an outsider (for Nagpur) but I belong to Maharashtra and India. When Rahul Gandhi can fight from Amethi constituency why can't I fight from Nagpur," she asked.
The 44-year-old RTI activist had accused the former BJP President of being hand-in glove with Sharad Pawar to suppress the alleged irregularities related to the irrigation projects in the state.
Damania had also alleged that when she approached Gadkari to seek help in filing a PIL in the scam, Gadkari refused to help. "Now our goal is to clean the system, rout criminals and corrupt politicians from this country... for which AAP is likely to field 300 or more candidates in the forthcoming general elections," she said.
Besides, AAP will soon come out with its governance programme without limiting itself to the agenda of fighting corruption, she said.
To a question, Damania said she will launch her election campaign from February 21 in Nagpur and her party chief Arvind Kejriwal will certainly come for electioneering when the poll schedule is announced.