The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Kejriwal holds road show in Amarinder bastion, says Captain will lose both seats
ON A day Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi announced Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh as the party’s chief minister candidate and took on the Aam Aadmi Party without naming it, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national Convener Arvind Kejriwal, who held an impressive road show in Amarinder’s bastion, Patiala, on Friday, claimed that the Congress will be routed in Punjab even if Singh is announced the Prime Ministerial candidate.
At the same time, he said AAP would not announce its CM face before election.
Talking to The Indian Express after the road show in Patiala Urban constituency, Kejriwal said the Congress party’s last-minute announcement declaring Amarinder as the CM candidate was a last-ditch effort to save the grand old party.
He said the fact that the Congress is losing badly has dawned on the party. “They huddled together and brainstormed; then they came out with this solution that they should announce Amarinder Singh as the CM candidate,” the AAP chief said. “Otherwise why would they do so just a week before the election?”
Responding to a question that he used to nudge Amarinder on Twitter that he would not be the CM, Kejriwal said, “They (Congress leaders) had told Navjot Singh Sidhu that he would be the CM if the Congress came to power. They had told him that they would use Amarinder for campaign and make Sidhu the CM."
“Ab yeh buri tarah se haar rahein hain. Logon ne jhaadu chalane ka mann bana liya hai. Ab Captain saheb ki dono seats khattre mein hain (now the Congress is losing badly. The people have decided to vote for jhaadu, and Captain will lose from both seats he is contesting), " Kejriwal claimed.
On Sidhu, who quit as a BJP MP and was rumoured to join AAP before eventually joining the Congress after a long delay, Kejriwal said he was offered the Deputy Chief Minister berth by AAP. But Sidhu did not accept it, Kejriwal said. “He did not say he wanted to become the CM but because he did not accept the Deputy CM candidate, it leads to a suspicion that he wanted to be the CM," he said.