Amid the ongoing war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP over the liquor excise policy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with his MLAs, staged a protest at Rajghat and alleged that the BJP has mobilised a massive fund to topple his Government by poaching his MLAs.
Eight MLAs skipped a meeting called by Kejriwal at his residence. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was absent as he was in Himachal Pradesh. While Satyendra Jain is in jail, seven MLAs were out of station and Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan joined the meeting over the phone.
Ahead of the meeting, AAP leaders said some MLAs were incommunicado for a couple of days. The party claimed its is in touch with the missing seven MLAs and determined to defeat BJP’s “Operation Lotus”.
On its part, the BJP said by protesting at Rajgath to defend its leader in the liquor scam, the AAP was insulting the father of the nation, who lifelong batted for abstinence.
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Kejriwal protests at Rajghat, BJP says he insulted Bapu
Minutes after AAP leaders went to Rajghat, the Delhi BJP said Kejriwal’s Rajghat visit was part of his theatrics to divert people’s attention from the liquor scam and the party will sprinkle ‘gangajal’ to sanctify the place. The BJP also compared Kejriwal with Goebbels. Kejriwal and several of his spokesperson and senior leaders throughout the day claimed that the BJP has has kept aside Rs 800 crore to bring down the Delhi Government - Rs 20 crore per MLA.
“The country wants to know, The country wants to know, whose money is it and where is it kept? None of our MLAs will break. The Government is stable. The good work in Delhi will continue.” Kejriwal said adding, that the citizens of the country want to know about the source of this money.
“Is it from GST or the PM CARES Fund? Have some of their friends given them this money?” the Chief Minister asked.
Addressing the recent political developments and snubbing the rumours aside, Kejriwal reposed faith in his MLAs and said that he is extremely happy to see that not even a single MLA has bowed down to BJP threat.
At Rajghat, Kejriwal said nothing was recovered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during its raid at Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s residence earlier this week. “Even mattresses and walls at my deputy Manish Sisodia’s residence were searched by the CBI, but not even a single unaccounted penny was found. A day after the CBI’s raids, Sisodia was approached by the BJP with an offer of the chief minister’s post and to betray Kejriwal. I am lucky to have Sisodia, who has no greed for the chief minister’s post,” Kejriwal told reporters.
Accusing Kejriwal of diverting the issue, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said Kejriwal has not answered charges in the liquor scam and only brought baseless allegations against us.
“Kejriwal should talk about the liquor policy. But he is not saying anything about this. Instead, he has come up with his worn-out script,” BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said in a separate video. The BJP leaders said the fact that they (AAP leaders) have gone to the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi means they have definitely committed an act which is to be considered a sin. “So, in order to purify it, the BJP workers will sprinkle Ganga jal on the samadhi,” Trivedi said.
“The BJP is asking pointed questions. However, the AAP is beating around the bush and evading the questions,” Tiwari added.
Taking a dig a the Kejriwal, BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said Kejriwal must be watching movies and making scripts. “He alleges that BJP leaders are threatening them, but is not disclosing their names. Then he claims his MLAs are missing, but again he won’t name them. If he gives us the name of the MLAs who apparently were missing, we could have looked for them,” Verma said.
In a video, Tiwari said Kejriwal has become the ‘descendant of Goebbels’ who used to think that repeating a lie will make it a truth.Tiwari said Kejriwal has come up with his same, worn-out script. “Kejriwal should talk about the liquor policy. But he is not saying anything about this. Instead, he has come up with his worn-out script. People now understand how much taxpayers’ money you have amassed.You have ‘become’ the descendant of Goebbels who used to think that if you repeat your lies, it will come true. But now people have become conscious and taken to the street in protest,” Tiwari said.