Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal at the rock concert held at the Talkatora Stadium. (Press Trust of India)
Days after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal played show stopper at a rock show organised by the Aam Aadmi Party's student wing, it has announced candidates for the Delhi University Students Union election to be held on September 11.
The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) will contest the DUSU polls - so far dominated by the students' wings of the BJP and the Congress - for the first time.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which crushed the BJP and the Congress in the Delhi Assembly elections held in February this year, now fancies its chances at wresting the Delhi University's students body from the BJP's student wing, the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
At the glittering concert organised on Monday by the CYSS at Delhi's Talkatora Stadium, Mr Kejriwal promised, among other things, a higher education loan scheme, one lakh jobs within a year and free wi-fi in colleges.
The concert and the Chief Minister's presence there has been criticised by rival parties. "Those who have been espousing clean politics and simplicity have violated every norm - we have written to the VC to take action against such blatant use of money," said the Congress' leader in Delhi Ajay Maken.
Popular Bollywood singers Vishal Dadlani and Shilpa Rao performed at the event, which was anchored by famous video jockey Raghu Ram.
Deputy CM and education minister Manish Sisodia, who attended the event, has dismissed Mr Maken's allegation, saying none of the performers charged money.
The Congress's students wing, the NSUI, and the ABVP also say that student bodies are not promoted so openly by political leaders. "They (CYSS) have no support base beyond 5 or 6 of DU's 55 colleges, so they are worried and trying to attract students through the CM," said an NSUI leader.