In legal tangle, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has to cut short his 11-day Punjab visit — giving enough fodder to the rival political parties to attack him.
He has on Thursday decided to skip three days of the visit to attend proceedings in a court case in Delhi.
“Kejriwal will not be addressing the party rallies slated for November 26, 27 and 28 as he has to appear in a court case at Delhi and had also summoned a Cabinet meeting,” said a party leader.
However, Kejriwal will address the party rallies on November 29 and 30 before winding up the Punjab visit, he said.
Thursday is Kejriwal’s fifth day in Punjab as part of electioneering for the 2017 assembly polls.
Reacting, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh ridiculed Kejriwal for “running away” from his “flop rallies” and the ongoing protests by resentful party workers, “on the pretext of some urgent work in New Delhi”.
Having “failed” to stand by the people of the state on the Sutlej-Yamuna-link (SYl) canal issue, Kejriwal is now rubbing salt on their wounds by deciding to leave in the middle of his scheduled rallies, he said.
“Though some reports suggested Kejriwal had to go to New Delhi to attend court proceeding in a defamation case against him, the fact that the next date of hearing is yet to be announced clearly indicated it is a mere excuse for the ‘bhagoda’ (fugitive) AAP leader to get away,” the Punjab Congress president said.
He said that the people of Punjab has a right to know “what urgent work has suddenly drawn Kejriwal away from Punjab”.
Even if it was the defamation case that had forced Kejriwal to leave Punjab, it was clear the Supreme Court orders refusing to stay the matter had come as a “god-sent” for the AAP leader, he said.
“Kejriwal would, in any case, have found some excuses or the other to run away in the current situation, where he had been facing no-shows from the public and vocal protests by party workers at his rallies in Punjab,” he said.
He said that it was “obvious” Kejriwal could face neither the media nor the people of Punjab on the SYl issue.
“What’s more, he is facing wrath of his party workers against his gag order prohibiting them from speaking on the SYl issue,” the PPCC chief pointed out, adding that this was another reason for Kejriwal to run away from Punjab.
Meanwhile, SAD MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said that Kejriwal had abandoned his Punjab tour and fled back to Delhi after coming to know that damming corruption revelations were going to be made against him which coupled with the hostile reception given to him by Punjabis had broken his spirit.
“The immediate reason for cancellation of elaborate tour is the revelations of corruption made against top AAP leaders in which he (Kejriwal) had also been made a party,” he said.
“AAP Bhoa candidate Vinod Kumar had clearly stated that he had been asked for Rs one crore for the party ticket by party Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak. Vinod, who was a journalist by profession, said that he had even complained to Kejriwal about the episode but was told to do as per what was being said by his underlings,” pointed Dhindsa.
He said that this case was fit for consideration by the Election Commission as well as other agencies as there was an entire sequence of events.
“This is only one of the many episodes of corruption levelled against the AAP leadership in Punjab. AAP has become synonymous with corruption, criminalization and characterless behaviour and Punjabis had started reacting against this cancer and that this is the reason why Kejriwal is forced to beat a hasty retreat to Delhi,” he said.
Dhindsa said that numerous other instances of ticket selling were emerging and Kejriwal’s silence on the issue was only indicting him amongst the cadre and Punjabis.
“Recently, an AAP worker of Jandiala Guru had accused the party of selling the party ticket of the constituency to an outsider in a phone conversation with party state in-charge Sanjay Singh which is now in public domain,” he said.
He added, “Punjabis want Kejriwal to explain why he is encouraging such leaders despite the grave charges against them but he has chosen to flee Punjab rather than be accountable for his party and its leaders.”