New Delhi : The Delhi Commission for Women has summoned Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas and his wife on a complaint by a woman volunteer of his party, who wants him to giv a public clarification that they were not in an “illicit relationship” while campaigning for last year’s national elections.
Vishwas has alleged “character assassination” and accused political rivals of trying to malign him and his party. “Na hum sahib se darenge na sahib ki party se darenge (Neither sahib nor his party intimidates us),” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, the BJP.
The woman volunteer has alleged that her reputation has been tarnished and she has been abandoned by her husband after she was falsely accused of having an affair with Vishwas. This followed rumours, she said, that the AAP leader’s wife found him in a “compromising position” with a woman in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, where he contested against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
“I want Kumar Vishwas to come forward and clarify that there was nothing between us. I have suffered a lot because of this entire matter,” the complainant, her face partly covered, told the media here. “My family is not with me because of this issue. I have been living alone for the last one month. The AAP is also not supporting me,” she said. “I want my respect back.”
The AAP contested the charges. “The issue has been played up as if Kumar Vishwas has illicit relations with the woman. The woman herself has named four people for maligning her image on social media,” AAP leader Sanjay Singh said. “Spare our families… They get hurt by such baseless reports,” he said. Kumar Vishwas called the whole thing a political conspiracy. “The woman is like my younger sister… People have given their life for our movement. I am facing character assassination.”
Viswas, who has in the past too courted controversy over his alleged derogatory remarks against women, accused the media of playing into the hands of the BJP and of being “extortionist”.
The ruling AAP in Delhi has been battling internal strife apart from a string of controversies, including one over the educational qualification of its law minister.
Both Congress and BJP called the allegations serious and asked Kejriwal to clarify on the issue.
