New Delhi: Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj Saturday alleged that the man held for attacking AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal wanted to set him afire after throwing spirit on him during his Padyatra campaign.
In a post on X, Bharadwaj also alleged that the attacker was connected with the BJP.
On Saturday evening, Kejriwal was greeting people standing behind a cordon when the man approached him and splashed some liquid on him, following which the security personnel swiftly overpowered him. Kejriwal and the security personnel accompanying him were later seen wiping their faces.
“A man threw spirit on him (Kejriwal). We could smell it. And there was an attempt to burn him (Kejriwal) alive.
“The man was carrying spirit in one hand and a matchbox in the other. He threw the spirit, which fell on Kejriwal and me, but he could not start the fire. Our alert volunteers and the public caught him,” Bharadwaj claimed in a press conference.
The attacker was beaten up by people present there before he was taken away by the police from the spot.
Bharadwaj alleged that the attacker is a registered BJP member and pointed to his social media profile, which, he said, contained multiple photos with senior saffron party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The profile also displayed a BJP membership card, confirming the attacker’s ties to the party, he said.
The BJP has strongly refuted the AAP’s charges with its Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva claiming the incident of throwing “water” on Kejriwal was an old tactic of the AAP. “Delhiites are asking why such incidents happen with him only”, he said.
BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the party condemns any kind of violence. But as Delhi BJP chief earlier pointed out, a “demoralised” Kejriwal could plan something like this to claim an attack on him and that suspicion has now been proved, he said.
At the press conference, Bharadwaj, while commenting on the law-and-order situation in Delhi, criticised the BJP for a rise in violence in the national capital.
The Delhi Police comes under the purview of the Union Home Ministry.
“Under the BJP’s watch, criminals have become emboldened. From daylight shootings in upscale areas like Greater Kailash to the murder of a gym owner, the BJP has failed to protect the citizens of Delhi,” he said.
Bharadwaj claimed that the attack on Kejriwal was an assault on the very idea of democracy. “If a former chief minister is not safe, how can ordinary citizens expect protection in this city?” he posed.
Targeting the BJP further, Bharadwaj alleged that the party’s “resorting to violent and adopting dishonest” means was a reflection of its fear of suffering yet another defeat in the upcoming Delhi elections.
The police said water was thrown at Kejriwal during the public event that was organised without their permission. The accused, identified as Ashok Jha, a serving bus marshal at Delhi Transport Corporation’s Khanpur Depot, has been detained, they said.
Sources claimed that Jha (41), during interrogation, said that he was frustrated as he was not getting his salary for the past six months.
Jha claimed that during the formation of AAP, he gave a donation to the party but was upset with its “fake promises”, the sources said.
PTI
