The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday accused the BJP of circulating a ‘fake’ letter in which Arvind Kejriwal has purportedly thanked local Muslim strongman Mukhtar Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Dal for not contesting the lok Sabha elections.
Kejriwal is said to be thanking Ansari saying Muslim votes would come to the AAP after his support and that the party would be able to force the communal forces out of Varanasi.The controversy erupted after a photo of the letter found its way to the social media.“BJP people are so afraid of losing Varanasi that they are spreading fake pics of the AAP thanking Mukhtar Ansari for support,” AAP posted on its official Twitter account in reaction to the letter being circulated.
Warning of ‘legal action’ for defamation, the party said that the ‘fake’ letter was written on a different letter-head than its original one.Qaumi Ekta Dal’s Ansari, currently in Agra jail, is an MlA from neighbouring Mau area. He had fought the last lok Sabha elections as a BSP candidate and had lost to BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi by a small margin at that time.Ansari had earlier said he would contest the lok Sabha elections again this time, but later withdrew his plans.
His party said that Ansari has decided not to contest elections so that the secular votes do not get divided and that they would support the strongest candidate against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Since then, speculations had going around that Ansari was supporting Kejriwal. AAP, however, later clarified that it would not take support of Ansari, who has a rogue image in this area and is facing many criminal cases.Meanwhile, Kejriwal has been continuing with his 'chaupals' in rural areas of Varanasi, which the party appears to have identified as key areas with minimal support for BJP and Modi.
Kejriwal, who came here on April 15 and is expected to go to Amethi tomorrow, has been focusing on such areas for his campaign and is giving more importance to direct contact with voters rather than conducting large public meetings.Speaking at one such 'chaupals' in Sewapuri Assembly area today, Kejriwal said that Varanasi has got the key for a political change in the entire country. He visited Jalalpur Rasulhan and Barasta villages among others and said he has come to Varanasi to launch a national agitation against corruption.
"Varanasi has decided to support a change," he said. He also visited Bariyarpur, Bheeshampur and Benipur villages to meet the locals there. Similar campaigns are being conducted by various other AAP leaders including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh and the party workers have been divided into different teams.Kejriwal is expected to return to Varanasi on April 22 and might file his nominations on April 23.