Liquor, tendency to insult others act as 'Fevicol' for I.N.D.I.A bloc: Sambit Patra

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also took a jibe at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal saying that the AAP leader is running away from a probe by skipping the ED's summons for questioning and that he cannot 'escape the long arm of the law for long'.

New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday said that liquor and a tendency to insult others work as "Fevicol" to keep the I.N.D.I.A bloc parties together, as it attacked them over the issues of corruption and alleged disrespect to Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Soon after opposition parties held a march to protest the suspension of their 143 MPs from Parliament, the BJP hit back at them.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra referred to the alleged involvement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an alleged excise policy scam and the recovery of more than Rs 350 crore in cash from firms linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, and accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader of running away from a probe by skipping the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) summons for questioning.

"Somebody is running away after committing liquor scam. There are some who have made fun of Vice President Dhankhar. They are doing a march," he told reporters, accusing the Congress and its allies of insulting India's traditions and Sanatan Dharma in the past.

"These are the two things working as Fevicol to keep these parties together," he said.

With Kejriwal skipping for a second time the Enforcement Directorate's summons in connection with its probe into the suspected scam in his government's now-scrapped excise policy, Patra said he cannot escape the long arm of the law for long.

"You have committed a scam and you will be caught," the BJP national spokesperson said, adding mockingly that it was AAP leaders like Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj who had claimed with 'confidence' that their leader will be arrested.

"Arvind and accountability cannot travel together," Patra said, adding that it is the duty of elected representatives to respond to lawful summons.

He said the AAP leader has cited official engagements, Diwali festivities and his engagement as his party's star campaigner in the recent assembly polls to not appear before the ED after the first summons.

The AAP got less than one per cent of votes in the five assembly polls, he said and added mockingly that there is an arrangement in place in jails for its inmates to practice "vipassana".

The Delhi chief minister alleged in his response to the summons that they were issued at the behest of political rivals who wish to silence the voice of the opposition. He also noted that he is scheduled to attend a 10-day vipassana session.

Patra slammed him for questioning the summons, saying it is a case of self-certification and megalomania. He could go to courts against the summons, the BJP leader added.

Patra also targeted opposition parties over the mimicry of Dhankhar, likening the 72-year-old to an elderly father who walks with a stoop.

"Will our parents be made fun of for this," he said, describing the mimicry as an act of body shaming which has made fun of a brave community like Jats, the caste Dhankhar comes from.

Noting that TMC leader Mamata Banerjee has sounded critical of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for filming her party MP Kalyan Banerjee's mimicry of Dhankhar, he said, "It was a theatrics planned to demean a community and a person holding a high constitutional post."