Seeking a record fourth term in office, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Sunday questioned the source of funding of Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP — a new force in the city’s political scene — whose main election plank is to check corruption.
Launching a counter-offensive on AAP, Ms. Dikshit lambasted it for making baseless allegations against her government and trying to paint everybody with the “same brush” and questioned its credibility as a political party.
“Where do you (AAP) get all the money? You can call me a liar or I can call you a thief. But is there any proof to say that I am a liar. Is there any proof to say that you are a thief. Just by pointing fingers you cannot make somebody corrupt. Everybody is living in glass houses,” Ms. Dikshit told PTI in an interview.
Criticising AAP for targeting her government, she said electoral battle should be fought on broader issues of policies and programmes of a political party and not on personal allegations and counter allegations.
“I found it little disturbing (the atmosphere).Political battles are fought on what you stand for - your vision and policies, not on personal accusations and counter accusations. You see who is talking about corruption, who is pointing fingers at others,” 75-year-old Ms. Dikshit said.
The AAP has been relentlessly attacking the Delhi government on the issue of corruption. The AAP said it has collected around Rs. 19 crore till November 8 as donations from 63,000 people including a host of NRIs.
The party claimed to have received donations ranging from Rs. 10 to several lakhs, from rickshaw-pullers to traders and industrialists to fight the polls and bring a “graft-free” administration.
