Amid the intense political fallout from the arrest of his former aide Bibhav Kumar in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha MLA Swati Maliwal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal fiercely criticized the BJP-led Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
Referencing the arrest of several of his party leaders, the CM, who is himself out on interim bail regarding a money laundering case linked to the scrapped Delhi excise policy, questioned if the people had elected a prime minister or a ‘thanedar’ (police officer).
Addressing a public rally in Bhajanpura ahead of the May 25 Lok Sabha polling in the national capital, the AAP national convenor stated, “It is up to you (people). If you vote for the ‘Lotus’ symbol (of the BJP), I will have to go back to jail. But if you push the ‘Hand’ symbol (of ally Congress), I may not have to go to jail. They (BJP) have unleashed ‘gundagardi’ (hooliganism) on the Opposition.”
Highlighting the arrests of key party figures Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain in separate cases, the CM remarked, “They put Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh in jail. Now, they have also sent my (former) PA behind bars. They are also planning to send Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi to jail. Did we elect a prime minister or a thanedar?”
Kejriwal accused the BJP of attempting to implicate party leaders in false cases, challenging the ruling party at the Centre to clarify if any money was recovered in the numerous raids on AAP leaders. “They are trying to implicate us in a false and fictitious scam, which they claim to be worth Rs 100 crore. I want to ask them: you conducted over 500 raids. Did you even recover a penny? Where is the 100 crore? Did it vanish into thin air?” Kejriwal asked.
The AAP convenor also led a roadshow in Bhajanpura, part of the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. The seat is being contested by the Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar, who is running against BJP heavyweight and incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari. Kanhaiya joined the roadshow led by the AAP chief.
Earlier on Tuesday, the AAP accused the BJP-NDA at the Centre of ‘incompetence and misgovernance’, asserting that the people of Delhi would teach the ruling party a ‘hard lesson’ in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The ruling party in the national capital also responded to Union Minister Amit Shah’s accusations of corruption against the AAP. Shah had launched a scathing attack on Kejriwal, saying he had never seen anyone take as many ‘U-turns’ as the Delhi CM. Accusing Kejriwal of scams worth crores, Shah said, “I have never seen a more shameless person in my life (than Kejriwal). After Lalu-ji was sentenced (in the fodder case), he stepped down as (Bihar) CM. However, Kejriwal continues to cling on to his chair.”