New Delhi: Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia accused the BJP Friday of hatching a conspiracy to “assassinate” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal “out of frustration” ahead of the elections to the Gujarat Assembly and MCD, a charge denied by the saffron party, which said he was reading from an “old script”.
Latching on to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Tiwari’s remarks, the Delhi deputy chief minister also said his language betrays the conspiracy.
Sisodia’s accusations came a day after Tiwari said he was concerned about Kejriwal’s security as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and MLAs were being thrashed by their supporters over “selling” of tickets for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls.
The AAP filed a complaint with the State Election Commission (SEC) and the Delhi police on Friday, demanding the arrest of Tiwari, besides a probe in the matter.
Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had directed the city police commissioner on Thursday to take cognisance of the AAP’s allegation.
The high-stakes MCD election, which will be held on December 4, is being seen as a three-way contest between the BJP, the Congress and the AAP.
Showing old tweets of Sisodia claiming a threat to Kejriwal’s life, Tiwari told a press conference on Friday, “He does this every year, claiming a threat to Kejriwal’s life. I do not understand what is going on as Kejriwal claims that Sisodia will be arrested and Sisodia claims that Kejriwal will be killed.”
Citing the death of AAP leader Sandip Bhardwaj, the North East Delhi MP alleged that it was not suicide but “murder”. The top leaders of the AAP, including Kejriwal, were responsible for it, Tiwari alleged.
The body of Bhardwaj (55) was found hanging at his residence in west Delhi’s Rajouri Garden on Thursday and the BJP had demanded a thorough probe in the matter.
Bhardwaj was assured an MCD poll ticket by the AAP, but it was later “sold” to another person, forcing him to end his life, Tiwari alleged, while Sisodia refuted the charge and said the incident was sad but to link it with ticket distribution was wrong.
Citing Tiwari’s remarks, Sisodia told a press conference that his language “betrays the conspiracy being hatched to assassinate Kejriwal” and demanded that the BJP MP should be arrested.
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There should be a probe to unravel the conspiracy to kill Kejriwal, he said.
“The AAP is not scared of such petty politics,” Sisodia said, adding, “Tiwari should be arrested immediately and strict action should be taken against him since he has openly threatened to kill Kejriwal.”
He accused the BJP of hatching the conspiracy to kill Kejriwal “out of frustration” ahead of the MCD and Gujarat polls.
“He (Tiwari) should be interrogated about this conspiracy,” the deputy chief minister said.
Kejriwal’s politics is based on good governance and it has the trust of people, Sisodia said, alleging that the BJP is ready to “cross all limits” by conspiring to kill the Delhi chief minister.
“The BJP has no faith in democracy and its open threat to kill Kejriwal shows that the party can go to any extent for power,” he said.
Later in the day, the AAP submitted a complaint to the SEC against the saffron party, alleging a conspiracy to assassinate Kejriwal.
Led by the party’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, a five-member delegation met State Election Commissioner Vijay Dev and submitted the complaint to him.
“Kejriwal was attacked by the members of the BJP in the past and there has been a threat to his life. Some of these incidents have been captured on camera by mediapersons.
“I would like to point out that these attacks mostly took place just before a state election. The accused were able to break through the safety net put up by the Delhi Police and attack the chief minister,” Bhardwaj said.
After his meeting with Dev, Bhardwaj said the state election commissioner gave them a patient hearing and accepted that the charges are extremely serious and should be investigated.
“Now what the authority eventually does or does not is not in our hands. But we trust them and believe that an investigation will be carried out. The Election Commission is an independent authority and we sincerely believe that it should not come under any pressure from the Centre,” the AAP leader said.
PTI
