Delhi polls: Kejriwal invites Amit Shah for public debate
Says BJP resorting to ‘petty conspiracies’ because everything else has failed
NEW DELHI: With less than two days for Assembly polls in the national Capital, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national Convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday challenged Union Home minister Amit Shah for a debate on Delhi. Commenting on the ongoing protests in Shaheen Bagh, Kejriwal asked Shah to stop using the protests for political gains.
Kejriwal on Tuesday had dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to announce its Chief Ministerial candidate and said he was ready for a public debate with the saffron party’s CM face.
“People of Delhi have already voted you (BJP) for Article 370 and Ram Mandir but what have you done for Delhi? Why should people vote for you? There should be a debate on an open platform,” Kejriwal said at a press conference.
“In a democracy, people have the right to decide their Chief Minister. Along with voting for their respective constituency candidates, they are voting to make me the Chief Minister of Delhi. But whom will they vote as the Chief Minister if they want to vote for BJP? They are wasting people’s votes by not declaring their CM face,” he added. “Is it Vijay Goel, Manoj Tiwari, Hardeep
Singh Puri, Harsh Vardhan, Smriti Irani? Who should the people of Delhi consider while voting,” he asked.
“People of Delhi want to know that why have you (Amit Shah) not taken any action on Shaheen Bagh till now. Why is the Home Minister making Shaheen Bagh a political issue,” Kejriwal questioned.
He said the BJP was left with nothing to counter the work done by his government in Delhi. “All parties came together to beat Kejriwal,” he said. “Later, they started saying Kejriwal is terrorist, Ravana and a traitor. Nothing worked. So they started using the Delhi Police.”
Referring to the Shaheen Bagh gunman, Kejriwal said: “I don’t know which party he is from. He should be given the strongest punishment. There can be no compromise when it comes to national security.”