New Delhi: Hours after the arrest of his aide Bibhav Kumar for allegedly assaulting Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not be under the impression that he would be able to “crush the AAP” by jailing its leaders.
Kejriwal announced that he would go to the BJP headquarters with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators Sunday to offer the BJP an opportunity to jail the entire AAP leadership in one go. He made the remarks in a short video statement released by the party.
“You (people) have been witnessing how they have been putting one AAP leader after another in jail. They put me in jail as well as Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Sanjay Singh, my PA was put in jail today. They are now saying that Raghav Chadha, who has returned from London, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi will be jailed too,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal, who is out on interim bail, was arrested on 21 April by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the excise policy case. Sisodia, an accused in the same case, remains in jail, while Jain is in jail in connection with a separate money laundering case.
Singh, also an accused in the excise policy case, obtained regular bail from the Supreme Court in April.
Kejriwal, the AAP’s national convenor, said the party was being targeted to block its efforts in improving Delhi’s schools, health centres and the electricity situation, as well as its sops such as free power for consumption up to 200 units.
“I want to tell the prime minister, who is playing this game of jailing us, that I will go to the BJP headquarters at 12 pm on Sunday. I will take my MLAs, MPs and all senior leaders along. You put in jail whoever you want to. Put everyone in jail together. You think you can crush the AAP by jailing its leaders. It is not possible because the AAP is an idea which has won the hearts of people,” the AAP chief said.
The embattled AAP’s poll campaign had gathered momentum after Kejriwal, on 10 May, walked out on interim bail till 1 June. But it was dealt a major blow with controversy erupting over Maliwal’s allegation that Kumar assaulted her at the CM’s residence on 13 May.
Initially, the AAP sought to resolve the matter internally but this blew up in its face after Maliwal lodged a formal complaint against Kumar, who was arrested by the Delhi Police earlier today.
The AAP has now claimed that the entire episode was scripted by the BJP, which used Maliwal to execute it. It also claimed that Maliwal was doing it to avoid being implicated in an alleged recruitment scam in the Delhi Commission for Women, which she headed between 2015 and January this year.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)