NEW DELHI: With a Delhi court sending the AAP national convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15, according to sources, his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, might participate in the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said the AAP is in a fix currently, as its senior leaders, like Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, are occupied with the CM’s arrest and governance-related matters.
Several party leaders think Sunita Kejriwal should take the front seat in its poll campaign, which is already lagging behind, sources said. They said Sunita’s first political appearance during Sunday’s INDIA bloc rally against the CM’s arrest and her address to the audience “received a positive response.”
Sources said Kejriwal’s absence has left a vacuum, and the parties are fighting the absence of a crowd-puller leader.
After forming an alliance with the Congress, the AAP announced its candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats. The BJP declared its candidates for all seven seats later, and the Congress has yet to declare candidates for the three seats.
The AAP on March 8 launched its Lok Sabha campaign with the slogan, ‘Sansad mein bhi Kejriwal, tabhee Dilli hogee aur khushahaal’ (with Kejriwal in Parliament, Delhi will be more prosperous).
The party had urged the voters to elect all seven Lok Sabha candidates of the INDIA bloc, alleging that the Delhi BJP MPs had never raised Delhiites’ concerns in Parliament.
“Where were the seven MPs when medicine supply, education and yoga classes were disrupted. They were clapping and celebrating. When the ordinance was passed in Parliament and the rights of Delhiites were being taken away, where were these MPs? They go to the LG to stop the work. Why should we still vote for such people,? AAP leader Jasmine Shah questioned.
“Their only aim was to put Kejriwal in jail and stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections,” he alleged. Meanwhile, the BJP again questioned the “legality” of Kejriwal’s continuing as chief minister and demanded his resignation. It alleged that Kejriwal is trying to play the “victimhood” card to “fool the voters of Delhi.”
‘Misusing agencies’
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal on Monday accused the BJP of having only one motive -- to put her husband in jail during the Lok Sabha elections.
Kejriwal, the AAP’s national convenor, was arrested on March 21 and subsequently remanded in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody. He is accused of being directly involved in a conspiracy related to the formulation of the now-scrapped excise policy, favouring certain individuals.
A trial court on Monday sent Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15. “He was questioned for 11 days, the questioning is complete. The court has not declared him guilty. Why has he been put in jail?” Sunita Kejriwal told reporters while leaving the Rouse Avenue court.
“They (the BJP) have only one objective -- to put him in jail ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The country’s people will give a reply to this dictatorship,” she said.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case. The next day, a court remanded him to the custody of the ED till March 28. Following this, the court allowed the ED’s plea requesting extension of his custodial interrogation by four days till April
