Unlike the grand roadshows and rallies organised by most political parties to seek votes, 43-year-old Anand Vanjape, in the fray for the Pune Lok Sabha seat election as an independent, cycles 60 km everyday to reach out to the voters with an agenda to make the city pollution-free.
Vanjape, who calls himself an “environment politician”, said he has been promoting a pollution-free lifestyle for the last several years and chose to highlight the issue as it hasn’t found mention in any party’s manifesto. “Since the issue of pollution, be it air, noise, water or plastic, has become a matter of grave concern, I thought I should take it up and make it an election agenda. No political party or candidate has included the issue in their manifestos,” he said.