Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday came down heavily on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for orchestrating an attack on him by sending “goons” during a ‘padyatra’ on Friday in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri area. Kejriwal also challeged the saffron party to contest polls. AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, are undertaking padyatras (foot marches) in different assembly segments in the city in the run-up to the February 2025 polls.
The AAP leaders, including Delhi chief minister Atishi, had slammed BJP for the alleged incident, claiming that the attack was carried out by “BJP goons” to “kill Kejriwal”. A day after the alleged incident, Kejriwal reiterated AAP’s claims, while addressing a gathering at Badli in northwest Delhi.
“Yesterday I went to Vikaspuri and they attacked me with their goons. Do you want to kill me? If you have the courage, contest elections against me. You (BJP) have government in 22 states, I have built 500 mohalla clinics in Delhi, you should have built 5,000 clinics… I am not greedy for power. I have left the CM chair, I am not worried whether I will come back or not, I am worried that Delhi’s work should not stop,” Kejriwal said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
“You don’t need to pay water bills. Make me CM again and I will waive off your water bills,” he added.
On Saturday, the AAP sharpened its attack at the BJP and alleged a “deep conspiracy” by the party to eliminate Kejriwal. He warned that the saffron party will be held responsible if anything happens to the AAP chief.
Addressing a press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Police complicity in the incident (in Vikaspuri) clearly shows a deep conspiracy to kill Kejriwal. The BJP has become an enemy of his life.” However, he stressed that despite the Vikaspuri incident, Kejriwal will continue to the ‘padyatras’ as per the party’s schedule.
Singh claimed that the police did not do anything to prevent the attack and that they dealt the incident in an ‘impartial’ way. He also claimed that the attackers belonged to the BJP’s youth wing.
“The police can take cognisance of the incident and conduct its probe,” he said, adding that the AAP is taking legal opinion to decide the further course of action in the matter.
Assembly polls in Delhi is expected to be held in early 2025. Congress could not win a single seat in the Delhi assembly polls held in 2020. While AAP won 62 out of the 70 seats, the BJP secured eighth seats in the last assembly polls.
