Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of calling supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) “Pakistanis”.
In a video message issued in response to Mr. Shah’s remark, the AAP convenor said, “Your enmity is with me. You can abuse me, but the 2.5 crore people of Delhi are my family. You should not abuse my people. The people of this country won’t tolerate this at all.”
The Union Minister had on Monday, at a rally held in favour of BJP’s South Delhi candidate Ramvir Bidhuri, said, “Kejriwal and Rahul [Gandhi] have no support in India. Their supporters are in Pakistan”.
Mr. Kejriwal also alleged a “poor turnout” at the public meetings held by Mr. Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in South Delhi and East Delhi Lok Sabha constituencies. “It is becoming clearer that the [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi government is on its way out and the INDIA bloc is coming to power on June 4 [counting day],” he said.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva termed the Chief Minister’s statements “lies”, and said that thousands had gathered to listen to the Union Minister.
“Kejriwal’s character is to lie. We are just asking him to break his silence over the Swati Maliwal assault case. He should speak at least once to honour Ms. Maliwal, who is a Rajya Sabha member of his party,” he said, referring to the accusations of assault made by the AAP MP against Mr. Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar.
‘Arrogance, threats’
The Chief Minister also brought up an allegation he had made earlier regarding Mr. Modi handing over the baton to Mr. Shah after he retired. “The Prime Minister has chosen you [Mr. Shah] as his successor. You have become so arrogant about it that you have started abusing people and threatening them,” he said.
He also hit out at Mr. Adityanath, claiming that the top leadership was planning to dethrone him from power. “Prime Ministerji and Amit Shahji have made a full plan to remove you [as Chief Minister] in Uttar Pradesh. You should deal with them. Why are you abusing Kejriwal in vain,” he said. The U.P. CM had at a rally said that AAP was “immersed in corruption from top to bottom” and had turned the Capital into “hell”.
“If we want to save India, we have to make INDIA bloc win in the Lok Sabha election. If we want to expand India, we have to make INDIA bloc win,” Mr. Kejriwal added in his video message.
‘People angry with PM’
While campaigning for Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar in North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Kejriwal said that he had noticed a “lot of anger among the people” against the PM while travelling across the country to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha election.
“I have gone to Punjab, Haryana, Lucknow, Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Jamshedpur, and other places. Everywhere, people are complaining about rising prices and unemployment. I can tell you all that on June 4 the INDIA bloc is forming the government at the Centre,” he said.
Arvind Kejriwal during a road show in support of Congress candidate for North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, Kanhaiya Kumar. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
He added that he was sent to jail in the excise case policy because Mr. Modi “wanted to stop the work” he was doing for the people of Delhi. “I want to ask Modiji, why don’t you make your own schools, mohalla clinics and hospitals across the country instead of trying to close Kejriwal’s schools,” he said.
This is the second nukkad sabha that Mr. Kejriwal has attended for the Congress candidate in the North East Delhi seat since his release from Tihar Jail, as part of the seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and AAP.
“Help us defeat Rinkiya ke papa and vote for Congress,” he said while addressing large crowds of Congress and AAP workers, referring to a popular song sung by BJP candidate and incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari, who will be facing off against Mr. Kumar for a chance at a third term as MP from the constituency.
Published - May 22, 2024 01:08 am IST
