Arvind attacks BJP, Jung with letter - Calcutta Telegraph

Arvind Kejriwal leaves the Supreme Court on Tuesday after a hearing on the PIL filed by the Aam Aadmi Party seeking an alternative government in Delhi or dissolution of the Assembly. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 9: Arvind Kejriwal today released a letter by Najeeb Jung seeking the President’s nod to invite the BJP to form the Delhi government, and went on to accuse the lieutenant-governor of “batting for the BJP”.

By evening, the Aam Aadmi Party boss was hit by rebellion from Kumar Vishwas, a party colleague and a poet. Vishwas showered praises on Narendra Modi and threatened to quit the AAP if he was barred from participating in a poetry event to mark the Prime Minister’s birthday.

The rebellion was seen as the BJP’s counter-attack on Kejriwal, a day after he released images purportedly showing BJP leaders trying to buy the support of an AAP legislator. Vishwas had hit the headlines by taking on Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the Lok Sabha elections but was badly defeated.

The twin events are being seen as part of the all-out political war between the BJP and the AAP to claim the throne of Delhi. “AAP leaders are fed up with Kejriwal. More people will rebel and quit,” alleged a BJP leader.

The BJP appeared to have stepped back but not given up the plan to take a shot at power in Delhi despite the numbers eluding them. In a House reduced to 67 members after three BJP legislators moved to the Lok Sabha, the BJP and ally Akali Dal have a joint strength of 29 but need 34 votes.

“Our stand remains clear. If the lieutenant-governor wants elections in Delhi, we are prepared for it. But if he invites the BJP to form government, we will analyse the situation and take a call,” Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said.

Kejriwal, however, pressed on with his latest strategy of “exposing the BJP”. After releasing Jung’s letter to the President, he highlighted the operative lines to allege that the lieutenant-governor was biased towards the BJP.

“I shall be grateful if the Hon’ble President of India grants approval to invite the BJP that is even today the single largest party in the legislature to seek their interest in forming the government,” he read from the letter.

“Why should the LG (lieutenant-governor) be grateful to invite the BJP? The BJP has not submitted any letter to claim it has the numbers to form the government but the LG on his own wants to invite the BJP.”

Kejriwal said he would step up his campaign against the BJP and Jung and not allow government formation by “dishonest means”. He said he was in contact with the Congress, JDU, Independents and some “honest BJP MLAs” and threatened more sting operations.

“We want elections and it should be held without any delay,” Kejriwal said.

The Congress joined the attack on the BJP. Shakeel Ahmed, the general secretary in charge of Delhi, said the BJP “got lucky” after the Supreme Court decided to give the Centre one more month to take a call on whether it intended to form an alternative government or go for fresh elections.

The BJP could use the time to engineer defections and manage its numbers, he claimed.

“The BJP has got enough time to indulge in poaching. We want immediate elections as there is no legitimate way of securing majority by any party,” Ahmed said, without criticising the court order.

The AAP refused to react to Vishwas’s quit threat. “I have the right to praise Narendra Modi if he does good things. As a poet, I also have the right to participate in a poetry show to celebrate Modiji’s birthday. If the party stops me, then I will quit.” Vishwas had said.