Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that BJP was running ‘Operation Jhaadu’, aiming to arrest all top functionaries of his party to eliminate AAP, as it saw them as a challenge.
Kejriwal made the statement during his address to party workers before leading a protest march to BJP headquarters following the arrest of his aide, Bibhav Kumar, in the Swati Maliwal assault case.
Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who had been missing in action for months due to an eye surgery that even led to speculation over his affiliation with the party, was also present.
Addressing party workers, he said PM Modi could get all functionaries arrested in one go instead of taking them one by one. He told the cadre to be prepared to face bigger challenges ahead.
“The top leaders of our party, all ministers, MLAs, MPs, councillors and office bearers are present here. Why did we have to gather here today? Because the Prime Minister has made up his mind to completely destroy and crush Aam Aadmi Party, for which he has started an operation called ‘Operation Jhaadu’,” he said.
The Delhi CM said that PM Modi feared AAP, as its work was being discussed all over the country, and it could be a challenge for BJP at the national level and in many states.
Kejriwal said every senior functionary of AAP had gone through a trial by fire. “They arrested me, Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain. Yesterday, they even arrested my PA. Raghav Chadha has just come back; now they are saying that he will also be arrested. They are saying that Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Kailash Gahlot will also be arrested soon,” he said.
He said that in the coming days, the party office would be locked. “ED’s lawyer has already given a statement in court that AAP’s bank accounts will be frozen immediately after the elections,” the CM said.
After the speech, Kejriwal led a march towards BJP’s headquarters and sat on the road as police barricades prevented them from reaching the office. There was heavy police presence on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. RS MP Sanjay Singh, ministers Gopal Rai and Kailash Gahlot, and other senior functionaries were present. After staging a protest for around half an hour, they left.
Kejriwal’s PA held
The police earlier arrested Kejriwal’s PA, Bibhav Kumar, from the chief minister’s residence in connection with the alleged assault on AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal.
Bibhav has been booked under IPC sections of attempt to commit culpable homicide, assault and using criminal force on a woman to disrobe her and criminal intimidation. The relevant sections have provision for punishment of less than seven years.
Even as the arrest was unfolding, AAP minister Atishi challenged Maliwal’s version of the incident at a press conference where she shared CCTV footage of May 13. It shows Maliwal being escorted out of the CM’s residence by a woman security personnel. She is wearing a short pink kurta and frees her arm from the woman’s grip as they exit.
“As per Swati Maliwal’s FIR, after the alleged attack, she was not in a position to walk and was writhing in pain but the CCTV footage is telling a different story,” said Atishi. “She has mentioned that she was attacked so brutally that she was...in a state of unconsciousness… The footage shows she is walking comfortably.”
