Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: BJP leader Bansuri Swaraj attacked the AAP on Monday asking if Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal was now 'officially' holding the post.
Swaraj, Delhi BJP secretary and party candidate from New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, also hit out at the opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc saying its Ramlila ground rally on Sunday was a 'flop show' to 'mislead' people on corruption issues.
AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar hit back, saying the BJP has been 'utterly shaken' by the 'overwhelming public support' for Kejriwal at the rally.
Addressing a press conference here, Swaraj asked the Aam Aadmi Party to clarify "whether Sunita Kejriwal is now officially the chief minister because she is using the Delhi chief minister's chair to give the media messages".
The BJP leader was referring to Sunita Kejriwal holding digital briefings with a backdrop similar to that of the Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal before his arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged liquor scam linked money laundering case.
The AAP should also tell why its leaders are being denied bail by the courts in the 'liquor scam' case, she said.
The courts have not granted bail to former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh who are behind bars for several months in the case.
Swaraj, daughter of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, also asked the AAP to answer if Kejriwal skipped nine summonses of ED and did not appear before the agency for questioning until elections are announced so that he could play 'victim card' after his arrest.
She also claimed that at the I.N.DI.A. bloc's Ramlila ground rally on Sunday, most of the chairs were empty when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was giving speech, indicating that the rally did not receive public support.
The I.N.D.I.A. grouping constituents like Trinamool Congress, AAP and the Left parties, they all seem to be 'deceiving' the Congress because they did not give a single seat to the grand old party in the states ruled by them, Bansuri said.
AAP's Kakkar said the I.N.D.I.A. bloc stood 'resolutely united' against the 'rampant dictatorship' that has 'thoroughly unsettled' the BJP.
"Together, we exposed the BJP's operation of an 'Extortion Department' and their practice of whitewashing corrupt leaders once they join the party," Kakkar charged.
She hit out at Swaraj alleging it's 'utterly ironic' that she is lecturing about corruption while she defended 'the most corrupt' of the country as a lawyer.