Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses during his confidence motion in the Delhi Assembly, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said AAP is the biggest challenger to the BJP and that is the reason why it is facing such attacks from the ruling regime, as the Assembly passed the trust vote.
Kejriwal, who got an exemption from the court not to appear in person in a complaint filed by the ED that he was not honouring its summons, also said the AAP will "liberate" the country from the BJP in the 2029 elections, if the latter wins this time.
The trust vote also came two days before the ED had summoned Kejriwal for the sixth time in the Delhi excise policy case. So far, the Chief Minister has refused to appear before it claiming that the summons are illegal. The ED had approached the court and on Saturday, the court set March 16 as the next date of hearing.
The BJP had alleged that Kejriwal timed the trust vote to avoid appearing before the court while the Chief Minister claimed that he went for the confidence motion after a couple of MLAs told him that the saffron party has told them that the AAP will be unseated from government and he will be arrested.
Of the 62 AAP MLAs, 54 were present with Kejriwal saying that two of their MLAs are in jail on false cases while some are unwell and some others are out of station.
Speaking in the Assembly, he said his government has a majority but he chose to bring the motion of confidence because the BJP was trying to poach AAP MLAs and topple his government.
He claimed that several MLAs explained how they were contacted and offered money to switch sides, allegedly by "BJP people".
"You may arrest me but how will you finish Kejriwal's thoughts? They claim to be Ram bhakt but they stopped medicines for the poor people in our hospitals. Did Lord Ram ask for stopping medicines for the poor people?" he said.