Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday compared Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita to former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, and said she is perhaps preparing to hold the post of her husband.
"The madam you are naming is perhaps preparing to hold the post like Rabri Devi did in Bihar," the senior BJP leader told reporters in New Delhi at the inauguration of the Delhi BJP's election office.
The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs was responding to a question about Sunita Kejriwal who has been briefing media on behalf of her husband, since his arrest by the ED last week.
Earlier in the day, Sunita Kejriwal launched a WhatsApp campaign, urging people to support her husband, who is in ED custody in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.
In a digital media briefing, she said her husband has challenged the "most corrupt and dictatorial forces" in the country and asked people to support him through their blessings and prayers.
The Delhi chief minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in the money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy for Delhi. A court on Thursday extended his ED custody till April 1.
When Mr. Puri was asked how serious challenge the AAP-Congress alliance in Delhi was for the BJP, he said, "Which alliance? What are you talking about? They (Congress) have not released the names of candidate." He slammed AAP and its leaders saying they joined politics pledging to fight corruption and now they have allied with the "most corrupt" Congress.
In a seat sharing agreement, AAP is contesting four Lok Sabha seats in Delhi while Congress has to declare candidates on the remaining three of total seven constituencies in the capital.
Mr. Kejriwal has said he was arrested without any reason but he skipped nine summonses by the ED after which the agency reached his doorsteps, Mr. Puri said, adding "his (Kejriwal's) time very limited." Mr. Puri said he will join the BJP campaigning in Delhi, holding press conferences for each of the seven party candidates in coming days and tell the people about the Narendra Modi government's works and achievements in last 10 years.
He rubbished AAP's charges that the seven sitting BJP MPs did nothing in their constituencies. "We have done development work in 10 years. There are many constituencies where work worth around ₹10,000 crore have been done by the Centre." He charged that under the rule of AAP in Delhi, people are forced to breath polluted air and the party is involved in blame game.
