Retirement rule, breaking parties: Arvind Kejriwal levels series of accusations against BJP in letter to Mohan Bhagwat

He also questioned Bhagwat if he agreed with the BJP's politics of calling politicians "corrupt" and then inducting them into its fold.

New Delhi: AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has shot off a letter to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat posing five questions, including whether the 75-year retirement rule in BJP should not be applied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and whether he agreed with the BJP in breaking parties to form governments in states.

The letter on Tuesday came days after he raised the same questions at a public meeting in Delhi, which was seen as AAP’s political counterpunch after his resignation as Delhi Chief Minister.

In his two-page letter, Kejriwal said his intention in posing the questions to Bhagwat was only to save and strengthen Indian democracy. His questions included induction of “corrupt” leaders into BJP and whether he was in agreement with BJP chief J P Nadda that the saffron party does not need RSS.

Kejriwal referred to the 75-year rule in BJP, which led to the retirement of L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and other leaders like B C Khanduri, Shanth Kumar and Sumitra Mahajan.

“Now, Amit Shah has said that this rule does not apply to Narendra Modi. Are you in agreement with this as leaders like Advani-ji were retired using this rule and that this rule will not be applied on Modi-ji? Shouldn’t the rule be the same for everyone?” he asked.

During the Lok Sabha campaign, Kejriwal had claimed that Modi would retire next September when he turns 75, and Shah, not Yogi Adityanath, would succeed him. Shah had then said that the rule does not apply to Modi.

Referring to a controversial statement by Nadda during an interview that the BJP has grown stronger and does not need RSS for electioneering, Kejriwal said the country wants to know what he felt about it. He said RSS is like a mother to the BJP while asking whether the son has grown bigger than the mother.

He also asked Bhagwat whether he raised issues like breaking parties and inducting corrupt leaders with Modi.

Kejriwal alleged in the letter that the BJP was luring leaders to their parties by offering them positions or through threats using ED-CBI and unseating governments. “Is it good for the country and the democracy to overthrow elected governments? Is RSS in agreement with capturing power through dishonest means?” he asked.

On BJP siding with leaders who it has accused of corruption, he referred to NCP’s Ajit Pawar without naming him. He said the BJP formed a government with a leader days after the Prime Minister himself accused him of corruption to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore and even made him a deputy chief minister.

“Has the RSS wanted the BJP to like this? Don’t you feel bad about this?” he added.