New Delhi: A day after his release on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he was on a “One nation, One leader” mission to impose “dictatorship” by putting all leaders from opposition behind bars and “politically finishing off” those in the BJP.
Addressing a gathering at the AAP headquarters here on Saturday, the party supremo said that PM Modi is asking for votes for Union Home Minister Amit Shah, claiming that the latter will be Modi’s successor after he “retires” on turning 75.
He asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be part of the next government at the Centre and will get full statehood for Delhi.
“In the last 20 hours after release from jail, I talked to poll experts and people, and got to know the BJP is not going to form the government,” Kejriwal said.
Ahead of restarting his election campaign, Kejriwal along with his wife Sunita and Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann offered prayers at the Hanuman temple in central Delhi’s Connaught Place.
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.
“These people ask INDIA bloc about their (PM) face. I am asking the BJP who will be their PM. Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 would be retired. They retired LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan,” Kejriwal said at the AAP headquarters.
“Modi will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfill Modiji’s guarantee?” he asked.
Brushing aside Kejriwal’s remarks, Shah asserted at a press conference in Hyderabad that Modi will continue to lead the country and there is “no confusion in the BJP” on the issue.
In Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also took a swipe at Kejriwal, saying his remarks about Shah are an acknowledgement that the BJP is set to retain power for a third straight term.
He also said that Kejriwal is speaking of the BJP’s succession plan but could not have trust in any of his AAP colleagues to succeed him when he was jailed on money laundering charges.
In his speech, Kejriwal claimed that if the BJP wins the Lok Sabha elections, all opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Tejashvi Yadav, M K Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan and Uddhav Thackeray, will be in jail.
“The prime minister has launched a very dangerous mission. This mission is called ‘One Nation, One Leader’. Modi ji wants to finish off all the leaders in the country. It is being run at two levels- all the opposition leaders will be sent to jail and the BJP leaders will be politically finished,” Kejriwal charged.
“If they win the election, they won’t leave any BJP leader. They finished LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sumitra Mahajan politically. They finished politics of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who won the Madhya Pradesh polls for them but they did not appoint him CM. They also politically finished Vasundhara Raje, Khattar, Raman Singh,” he charged further.
The next in line is Yogi Adityanath, Kejriwal claimed.
“I can give in writing they will change the UP chief minister if they win the Lok Sabha polls. They will finish politics of Yogi Adityanath and also finish him politically,” he alleged.
“This ‘One nation, One Leader’ is a dictatorship and only one dictator will remain in the country,” said the AAP national convener.
