Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got publicity for his party before lakhs of voters in Punjab by attacking SAD leader and Punjab’s former Cabinet Minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia on drugs issue about a year back only to pay for it with an apology on Thursday.
Already facing a series of defamation cases, Kejriwal tried to conclude one today by providing a written apology to Majithia maintaining that the allegations that he had been leveling against the SAD’s firebrand leader so fiercely in the run-up to 2017 Punjab Assembly polls were “unfounded”.
Kejriwal has furnished a copy of apology in Amritsar court on Thursday, where he was facing a defamation case filed by Majithia along with two other AAP leaders, for allegedly “tarnishing” his reputation by levelling “false, baseless and malicious charges”.
In his letter addressed to Majithia, Kejriwa said: “In the recent past, I made certain statements and allegations against you regarding your alleged involvement in drug trade. These statements became a political issue. Now I have learnt that allegations are unfounded.”
“I hereby withdraw all my statements and allegations made against you and apologies for the same,” said Kejriwal adding that the damage caused to your esteem, the hurt caused to you, your family, friends, well-wishers, followers and the loss caused to you is regretted.
This is Kejriwal’s second apology for defamation in seven months. In August last year, he had apologised to BJP leader Avtar Singh Bhadana to get him to withdraw his defamation suit.
Kejriwal is also facing a defamation case filed by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for accusing him of corruption during his 13-year tenure as the head of the main cricket administration body for Delhi.
During campaigning for the 2017 elections, Kejriwal had accused the SAD-BJP government of patronising drug mafia and criminals with Majithia being the main focus of his verbal attacks.
In one of the public meeting, Kejriwal went on to promise the people that he would “drag” Majithia “by his collar” to jail once he comes to power. Wasting no time, Majithia responded with a defamation case against the Delhi Chief Minister and two other AAP leaders — Sanjay Singh and Ashish Khetan.
Welcoming Kejriwal’s move, SAD leader Bikramjit Singh Majithia said: “This proves that they were raking up the issue to tarnish my image and harm me and gain politically.”