BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday called the Aam Aadmi Party a “bakwas mandali” (a nonsense group) of “the mentally unstable.”
Speaking at Deendayal Parisar, the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh headquarters, here, he said: “These people carry the bag of virtue and a bag of lies together. They get grants from the Ford Foundation but won’t disclose their electoral funding because they say they are poor common people. Yet they go around, giving certificates of honesty, and anyone who doesn’t get one is dishonest.”
He also targeted the Congress, accusing the party of using the AAP as “contractors to prevent stability.”
He quashed rumours of disquiet in the BJP over seat allocation. “There are many people vying for ticket because there is a BJP wave. The Congress wants to highlight this as no one wants its ticket to fight.”
“Anti-peasant”
The AAP candidate for Mumbai-North East Medha Patkar, who leads the Narmada Bachao Andolan in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, addressed the press in support the party candidates in the State.
Accompanied by Khargone candidate ‘Master ji’ Kailash Awasya, she accused the Congress and the BJP of being hand in glove in promoting corruption and denying people displaced by development projects their right to livelihood.
“The Shivraj Chouhan government has never taken a stand against corruption. On the contrary, it has tried to suppress probes and destroy evidence,” she said.
Ms. Patkar listed several scams, including the recruitment scandal at the Professional Examination Board, misuse of funds for rehabilitation of the Narmada oustees and the case of improper allocation of land for industries, in which no politician has been convicted.
“Despite [the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra] Modi campaigning in Barwani [in the Assembly elections], the Congress won half the seats. But their MLAs did not speak a word in the Vidhan Sabha about the sufferings of the dam oustees,” she added.
Terming Mr. Modi and the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister anti-peasant, Ms. Patkar said the AAP would oppose projects that destroyed the environment and fight for the fulfilment of the State’s legal obligations to the people. “We will promote labour-intensive employment, creating industries that complement agriculture.”