What does Arvind Kejriwal think of Manoj Tiwari?
The question, posed to him at the Hindustan Times Summit, might have been more geared towards Tiwari as being a political rival, but Kejriwal's reply was rather complimentary, if a tad unexpected. Apparently Tiwari "sings very well".
"He sings very well. Have you heard the song ‘Rinkiya Ke Papa’. He sings very well. He is very good,” Kejriwal said according to a report by HT.
The song incidentally, is one of Tiwari's most popular from his days as a Bhojpuri singer.
Tiwari, who is often considered in the running to be the BJP's CM candidate for Delhi had been a singer before he transitioned into politics. His musical prowess finds a place even during his campaigns.
Earlier in November Union minister Hardeep Puri had stated that Tiwari would be the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Delhi. Hours later, he backtracked on his statement.
Commenting on the same Tiwari had earlier said that "all these talks" were an attempt to "divert focus from the failures of Kejriwal government on air pollution, water supply contamination, and poor transport facility in Delhi".
Soon after Puri's statement Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh had mocked Delhi BJP claiming that their party will have a field day in Assembly polls if Tiwari was BJP's chief ministerial candidate.
AAP later claimed that "strong infighting" within the Delhi BJP had forced Puri to clarify that they have not finalised the chief ministerial candidate for the assembly elections due early next year.
He is however not the only person to have said such a thing. While the party is yet to make an official announcement of its chief ministerial candidate for the polls due early next year, senior BJP leaders including Union minister Prakash Javadekar had earlier said that the Delhi BJP will fight the Assembly polls under the leadership of Tiwari.
