Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the Delhi Police Crime Branch’s notice to him over his allegations that the BJP was attempting to “poach” AAP MLAs has no mention of any FIR and asserted that the country will not progress by such “theatrics”.
The Minister said those who offered bribes to the AAP MLAs to join the Bharatiya Janata Party are the same who poached the MLAs to topple the elected governments in various states and who sent the Crime Branch officers to his residence. “Is this a secret? Everyone knows it,” he said.
“They are asking which people approached to buy the MLA of Aam Aadmi Party. If this is hidden from anyone; the whole world knows that there is only one party in this country which is buying everyone. Those who broke the government in Goa and formed their own. The one who broke Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the one who toppled the government in Karnataka, the one who tried to topple the government in Rajasthan, and the one who sent Crime Branch officers are the ones behind this. What is the point in asking about it (their names).” And it was simply a letter, no FIR, nothing, added the chief minister.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Kejriwal said that the Delhi Police officers were made to indulge in “theatrics” by their “political bosses”, which was quite “insulting” for them.
A team of Delhi Police’s Crime Branch also visited Delhi minister Atishi’s home over the MLA poaching allegations and served her a notice on Sunday. Kejriwal received the notice on Saturday. Speaking about the political situation in Jharkhand, Kejriwal said that the arrest of a sitting chief minister “was not right”. Former Jharkhand Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in an alleged money-laundering case. “Arresting a sitting chief minister was wrong. They waited for 48 hours to see whether the Jharkhand government would topple but JMM MLAs did not break. Whatever is happening in the country is not good for democracy,” he added.
Earlier, Kejriwal met the pilgrims leaving for Tirupati under the Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana and urge them to pray for the country and the people of Delhi. He participated in a Bhajan Sandhya and interacted with senior citizens departing for Tirupati.
“I am very happy that you all are going to Tirupati today. You should pray for your families, the people of Delhi and for the peace and prosperity of the country,” he said. Kejriwal said they draw inspiration from Shravan Kumar to run the pilgrimage scheme. “I am a son of Delhi and the people of Delhi are my family. My duty is to take senior citizens for pilgrimage,” he added.
This is the 89th train departed under this plan from Delhi on Monday, carrying 780 elderly pilgrims to Tirupati Balaji. Prior to this, a devotional evening for the pilgrims was organised at Thyagaraj Stadium, where Kejriwal met with pilgrims.