Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal kicked up a new controversy on Sunday by exhorting the voters in Delhi to take “bribes” from BJP and Congress but to vote for AAP in the upcoming Assembly election. He asked the voters to “fool” BJP and Congress by voting for AAP even after accepting “bribe money” from them while accusing the parties of “deceiving” the people for years.
“It’s election time. When people both from BJP and Congress come offering money, don’t refuse, accept. Some have looted money from 2G; some have looted money from coal scam. “And if any party does not show up, go to its office and take the amount saying we were waiting but you didn’t come,” Kejriwal said amid cheers from the crowd.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener was addressing a rally at West Delhi’s Nawada area in support of his party’s Uttam Nagar Assembly candidate Naresh Balyan. “Take money from both the parties but vote for AAP. We will fool them this time. They have been deceiving us for the last 65 years. Now it’s our turn,” he said. Kejriwal also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that his Ramlila Maidan speech was a let-down from which he had “high expectations”.
“I had high expectations from the Prime Minister’s Ramlila Maidan rally speech. But it’s such a let-down. He spent half the time branding me a Naxalite and criticising me for sitting on dharnas. “This kind of politics is not good. Politics should rather be issued-based,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the recent religious conversion row and controversial remarks by certain BJP leaders and saffron outfits, the AAP supremo slammed BJP for “ditching” its electoral plank of development. “They used to speak of development. But they have ditched development for (dharm parivartan) religious conversion. Now we also hear comments on Nathuram Godse’s temples, women wearing jeans,” Kejriwal said.
In his 25-minute speech, the AAP chief once again attacked BJP state President Satish Upadhyay alleging a nexus between him and the power discoms. “Ask BJP who installed the fast running metersIJ I won’t name him as they have already filed several cases against me but you people very well know. Even the Congress people are a part of this nexus,” Kejriwal said.
He alleged that BJP was “friends” with many top industrialists because of which it was unable to bring down power tariff in the Capital. The former Chief Minister promised to bring down electricity tariff if voted to power, repeatedly accusing BJP of having “wrong intentions”. “They know how to bring the tariff down but they won’t. The point is their very intention is wrong in the first place,” Kejriwal said.
Accusing BJP of demolishing slums after coming to power at the Centre, the AAP leader alleged that the land of the poor was being handed over to big business houses. “BJP has demolished slums in Rangpuri, Wazirpur, Vasant Kunj and Okhla promising to build pucca houses.
Kejriwal also sought to clarify on why he resigned as the Delhi Chief Minister last year after running the Government for a mere 49-days. “I resigned because BJP and Congress ganged up against the Government in the Assembly and did not allow us to pass any law. Congress would meddle in every affair.”