Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal courted controversy during his visit here on Friday after he took a Mercedes car from the airport to reach a hotel and then flew back to Delhi in a chartered plane.
Mr. Kejriwal was here to speak at a private media event.
Following outrage on social media, Mr. Kejriwal — who has repeatedly questioned Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi over their use of choppers and private planes — was quick to tweet an explanation saying the plane trip was paid for by a media group. “Reached india today conclave from jaipur. Since there was no regular flt, india today group hired a charter to reach me in delhi on time ... [sic.],” tweeted Mr. Kejriwal.
“I wud urge modi ji and rahul gandhi ji also to disclose whose planes r they using and who pays for them [sic],” he tweeted.
Speaking at the event here earlier, Mr. Kejriwal said Mr. Modi did not meet the media, travelled in private planes, got down to give a speech and then flew back.
“This is not democracy,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
Ironically, right after his speech, the AAP leader rushed out of the venue without meeting mediapersons, who had been waiting for over an hour, and flew back to Delhi in a private long-range plane.
During his speech, Mr. Kejriwal said he expected that the Lok Sabha elections would mark a transitory phase in Indian democracy and would return a fractured mandate.
The former Delhi Chief Minister denied the existence of a “Modi wave” in the country.
“This is not a Modi wave, it is a wave of people’s anger ... and if this anger is channelised, a major change would occur,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
The AAP chief took potshots at the Congress-led UPA government and the opposition BJP for “being hand in glove with big business.”
