New Delhi:

The BJP on Friday likened Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s alleged role in the excise case to a playback singer who is not seen on the screen but is the voice in the song and said his attack on the ruling party is a case of pot calling the kettle black.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi rejected Mr Kejriwal’s claim of innocence and said a trail of corruption money has been established by the investigators.

His counterattack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader came after Mr Kejriwal claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted that the excise policy case is wrong.

PM Modi had, in an interview, described Mr Kejriwal as an “experienced thief”, claiming that as an ex-IRS officer he knew how probe agencies work and had tried to cover his tracks in the case.

Mr Trivedi said the money trail has demonstrated which companies have benefited from Mr Kejriwal government’s policies.

The BJP leader noted that even the court has acknowledged this on numerous occasions. This is why he was in jail, he said.

“In Goa, the AAP candidates have admitted that they have received money and suspiciously the money has come from the same sources that have been considered beneficiaries,” he said.

Mr Trivedi said Mr Kejriwal is the only chief minister in the history of India who has not resigned from his post even after going to jail.

Although the judiciary gave him interim bail to join the election campaign under specific conditions, including refraining from commenting on his case, but the way he is promoting his case with misleading and confusing propaganda is not surprising, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi unit of BJP has sent a defamation notice to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and minister Atishi after she alleged that the BJP approached her with a request to switch over. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva told the media today that they have sent the notice and demanded a public apology from Ms Atishi.

“Atishi failed to provide evidence of who approached her, how and when. The AAP is undergoing a crisis in Delhi, which is why they are making such baseless allegations out of frustration. But we will not let her get away with this,” he said.

In a press meet yesterday, Ms Atishi said, “The BJP has approached me through someone very close. They have asked me to join the BJP and said this will save my political career. They have threatened that if I don’t switch over, ED (Enforcement Directorate) will arrest me within a month.”

She also claimed that she and three other AAP leaders — Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP MP Raghav Chadha and party MLA Durgesh Pathak — may be arrested over the next couple of months.

She said the person who approached her on behalf of the BJP had said the ruling party had “made up its mind on crushing everyone in AAP”.

“First, they put everyone in AAP’s leadership in jail. Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and now Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been arrested. The BJP’s plan is to arrest four more AAP leaders in the next two months. They will arrest me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Raghav Chadha,” she said. Sanjay Singh has been granted bail and will be released today. 

Mr Sachdeva today dared the Delhi minister to submit her phone to an investigation agency to prove her claims.

The Delhi BJP’s lawyer said the party has sent a defamation notice to Atishi to withdraw her statement, which he termed “false, defamatory, and concocted”. If she cannot prove her claim, they will take more legal steps, the lawyer said.

New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday launched a social media campaign asking people to support it for saving the constitution and democracy in the country.

Delhi minister and senior AAP leader Atishi addressed a press conference here to launch the social media “DP (display picture) campaign”, urging people to join in.

She said that all AAP leaders and volunteers will change their profile picture on X, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media accounts with the new one showing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal behind the bars captioned “Modi Ka Sabse Bada Dar Kejriwal”.

Mr Kejriwal is the only leader in the country who can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi so he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate without any evidence just after the announcement of Lok Sabha polls, Atishi said.

She claimed the ED could not produce even “one Paisa” of evidence despite its two-year-long probe into the alleged excise scam .

She alleged that the BJP and Modi want to crush Kejriwal and added that the AAP was waging a battle against “dictatorship” in the country.

She urged people to join the social media DP campaign of the party saying saving the democracy and the Constitution was not just Kejriwal’s fight.

Mr Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in connection with the money laundering case linked to now scrapped excise policy of his government on Thursday last week. He is in custody of the agency till March 28.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

AAP MP Sanjay Singh said the Union Budget for 2023-24, presented by the Finance Minister in Parliament, does not have any provision for the country’s farmers, soldiers and youth. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Aam Aadmi Party on February 1 questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s claim about doubling of per capita income since 2014, saying it is ‘Amrit Kaal’ for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not for the common people of the country.

Highlighting the achievements of the Modi dispensation so far, the Finance Minister in her budget speech said the government’s efforts since 2014 have ensured for all citizens a better quality of living and a life of dignity.

The per capita income has more than doubled to ₹1.97 lakh, she added.

“Neither did the MSP of crops increase nor did the youth get employment. But this is Amrit Kaal for Modi ji. Nirmala ji is saying per capita income has doubled,” AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who is also the party’s national spokesperson, said in a series of tweets in Hindi, wondering “whose income” doubled.

The AAP leader said the Union Budget for 2023-24, presented by the Finance Minister in Parliament, does not have any provision for the country’s farmers, soldiers and youth.

“No provision for anyone in the budget. Common people are longing for Amrit [nectar] in the Amrit Kaal,” Mr. Singh said.

Latching on to the Finance Minister’s proposal that 50 additional airports will be revived, the AAP MP took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Modi ji will build 50 new airports. Who will get them?” Mr. Singh said in a tweet.

The AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha termed the budget “most lacklustre” and said it is bereft of “any effort or serious application of mind”.

“It sounded like a budget presented by a minority government with its hands tied rather than a government with a brute majority,” he tweeted.

The Modi Government is focused more on “retaining power than wielding it for the common good,” Mr. Chadha alleged.