Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday ridiculed the BJP in Gujarat for spreading canards that he planned to field Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar in the December elections, saying this is like “Narendra Modi vacating his seat for Sonia Gandhi".
This had all started after a local BJP worker from Madhya Pradesh first tweeted that Kejriwal plans a “backdoor entry” for Medha Patkar as Gujarat’s Chief Ministerial candidate.
And this was picked up by the BJP’s social media team before Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel called her an “urban naxal” for “opposing the Narmada project and delaying it.”
Finally, at a public event during his previous visit to Gujarat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed, “Kejriwal plans to infiltrate Medha Patkar from the backdoor into the Gujarat elections, but people of Gujarat will never entertain such anti-Gujarat and anti-national elements.”
When Kejriwal was asked about this at a press conference in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, he laughed and countered, “Why don’t you ask the BJP if they are going to have Sonia Gandhi as Narendra Modi’s replacement? Tell them I am saying this, I know it is difficult for you but why not ask.”
In a recent interview to a national Hindi channel, Medha Patkar said she had not even met Kejriwal for several years now. She had quit the AAP in 2015. When insisted, Patkar laughed, “They are saying my entry into Gujarat from the backdoor. What’s a backdoor entry? Is it through the Kutch border or how?”
Kejriwal said the BJP was spreading these rumours out of “desperation and frustration” since they know the AAP is forming the government in Gujarat. "And ours won’t be a government remote-controlled from Delhi. Who removed Vijay Rupani and made Bhupendra Patel the chief minister?”, he asked.
The AAP supremo announced that if his party was voted to power in Gujarat, it would ensure that the chief minister, ministers as well as MLAs from other parties and government officers did not indulge in corruption and be jailed if caught doing so.
"Whoever I meet in Gujarat says there is corruption everywhere, even to get the smallest government job done. Not only at the lower level, but there are also scams at the top. If anyone raises his voice against this, he is threatened,” Kejriwal claimed.
The AAP government would ensure that every penny collected from the public as tax goes to the service of the people of Gujarat, he said.
Further hitting out at BJP, Kejriwal said BJP keeps changing its chief ministers and, "I have heard that after PM Modi, Sonia Ji will be the next candidate for the ruling party," he claimed.
"There is no need to fear any longer. Bhajpa jaa rahi hai, Aam Aadmi Party aa rahi hai," said the Delhi chief minister.
Kejriwal is campaigning in Gujarat ahead of the state polls due by the end of this year and has promised to provide the people of Gujarat a "corruption-free" government if their party is voted to power.
The Delhi chief minister further ensured the people of Gujarat that he himself, his ministers as well as lawmakers from other parties and government officers do not, and will never indulge in corruption.
Kejriwal also promised to stop "illegal businesses" of present ministers and government officers in Gujarat, investigate "scams" of the present government and recover money collected through corrupt means so that it can be spent on the public.
(with sources inputs)
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