Terming jailed conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s letter to Lieutenant Governor as a fabricated story, AAP supremo and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday brushed it aside, saying “the fact that the BJP has to rely on a conman, as you say he is, shows their sorry state in Gujarat”.
Kejriwal said that Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s allegations looks like a completely fictitious story planted to divert attention from the Morbi bridge collapse incident where over 130 people, including more than 40 children, have died.
“On Sunday, the Morbi incident happened. All TV channels raised this issue yesterday ( Monday) but it disappeared today (Tuesday) and Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s allegations appeared.
The bridge collapse incident was no longer being discussed on the TV channels and it was all about Sukesh Chandrashekar. Does it not seem like a tactic to distract from the tragedy?” Kejriwal asked during a media briefing. “What can be more blatant than this? Nearly 150 people have died but all channels are discussing a conman.”
“Before the Punjab election, they brought Kumar Vishwas When the BJP realised that it is going to lose the Punjab election, it fired from Kumar Vishwas’s shoulders. Now in Gujarat, the BJP is in such bad shape that they need the support of Sukesh Chandrashekhar. You people are only showing that he is a conman. I heard that once he cheated somebody by posing as a CBI officer, as a law secretary, as a PMO officer… How can you believe him? The BJP is planting a fake, fictitious and fabricated story to divert attention from the Gujarat Morbi bridge collapse,” he said.
“This is just BJP’s tactic to divert people’s focus from the bridge collapse,” Kejriwal said.
The AAP national convener also tweeted: “The BJP’s situation in Gujarat is so bad that it is having to take the help of the country’s biggest thug. Let the media be alert – all this drama is to divert the attention of the media from Morbi.”
Earlier, Kejriwal demanded that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel resign and the assembly polls be held immediately. Praying for those who lost their lives in the incident, Kejriwal said the assembly polls in Gujarat should be held immediately.
Kejriwal has questioned the Gujarat government as to why a watchmaker was given the contract for the upkeep of a British-era suspension bridge. He further asked why this contract was awarded without a government tender and why is the name of the company and its owner not mentioned in the FIR.
He went ahead and alleged that the ruling party got donations from the company. Kejriwal said, “Did BJP ever get donations from this company? How much?”
Morbi-based clock and e-bike maker Oreva group was given the contract by the Morbi Municipality to repair and operate the ill-fated hanging bridge for 15 years and charge tickets in the range of Rs 10 to Rs 15 for its use, according to the municipality documents assessed on Monday.
In a separate press conference, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat was not an accident, but murder of over 130 innocent people by the BJP's “corrupt” rule in the state and and posed five questions to the saffron party, saying people will vote on them in the upcoming assembly elections.
AAP leaders Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi alleged that the party has award the contract for the Morbi bridge to a clock manufacturer with no experience of building bridges.