AAP claims BJP intimidation and CBI arrest threat for Kejriwal amid alliance talks
CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on Friday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pressurizing them to leave the INDIA alliance as they claimed that the CBI is planning to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a fake case of liquor scam in the next few days.
BJP is scared of the two parties coming together for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, AAP leaders.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, at the party office here, said, "The AAP leaders are getting threatening phone calls from BJP to arrest our national convenor Arvind Kejriwal if they don't leave the INDIA alliance. So far Arvind Kejriwal got 7 summons from ED. They are planning to arrest him soon, to force us out of the INDIA alliance."
Cheema further said that the BJP can see their defeat in the upcoming elections at the hands of the INDIA alliance. "Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government at the centre failed miserably for the last ten years as corruption, inflation and unemployment were touching new heights every day. They failed to provide 2 crore jobs every year. Instead of doubling the income of farmers as they promised before the election, they forced farmers to stage agitations for their basic rights. People are full of anger against the BJP and uniting to defeat them. That is why the BJP is scared of the INDIA alliance,’’ he alleged.
Cheema accused the agencies of drafting false cases to halt AAP since not a penny was found in so many raids.
"We are an idealistic party. Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and Dr B R Ambedkar are our idols. They won't be able to intimidate us. We will fight against every obstacle created by the BJP. Arvind Kejriwal is an honest leader. He changed the direction of Indian politics. He proved that honest politics is possible. BJP will not succeed in their agenda against the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal," he added.
Punjab Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Maan said that the INDIA alliance defeated the BJP in the Chandigarh Mayor election, but it was just a trailer. "Now BJP knows that where AAP is with the INDIA alliance, they cannot win there. BJP even tried to win the Chandigarh election by murdering democracy in broad daylight but still they had to face the defeat,’’ she claimed.
She further added that people love Arvind Kejriwal. "BJP knows that where Arvind Kejriwal goes, BJP's defeat is inevitable there. So they are scared of Arvind Kejriwal and unnerved by the popularity of the Aam Aadmi Party,’’ she said. She added that they will not succeed in intimidating them and they won't be able to stop Arvind Kejriwal. "The INDIA alliance will beat the Modi-led BJP by a huge margin because the people of our country are uniting against the BJP," she said.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Delhi cabinet minister and senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said as soon as reports of finalisation of seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the AAP started coming in, the ED sent a seventh summons to Kejriwal in the excise policy case.
"We have learnt from reliable sources that the CBI is planning to arrest Kejriwal. The CBI will also serve a notice to Kejriwal either this afternoon or by the evening," Bharadwaj said.
Kejriwal will be arrested in the next two to three days, he said.
"We are getting messages that if the AAP-Congress alliance is formed, Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested. The BJP is scared of the AAP-Congress alliance. You can arrest Kejriwal if you want, but the alliance will be forged," he said.
There was no immediate response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the AAP's claims.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said Kejriwal knows that the talks on the AAP's alliance with the Congress are failing but AAP leaders have been spreading rumours since Thursday and are trying to generate sympathy for the chief minister.
"Kejriwal may delay his punishment with the help of lawyers but ultimately, the people of Delhi will punish him harshly in the coming elections," the BJP leader said.
The AAP and Kejriwal should remember that Congress leader Ajay Maken had submitted the first written complaint to the lieutenant governor regarding the liquor "scam" under his government, Sachdeva said.
The Congress and the AAP are likely to have a seat-sharing pact in Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls and the talks between the two sides are in the final stages, sources said on Thursday.
(With inputs from PTI)