Kejriwal inked, AAP cries murder
HIGH DRAMA BJP-police conspiracy because of odd-even success: Sisodia
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party alleged on Sunday the central government could get Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal killed after a woman threw ink at him at an official function, triggering strong reactions from the BJP and city police.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia called the incident a major security lapse and said the BJP was staging an attack on Kejriwal in collusion with Delhi Police as it couldn’t digest the success of the odd-even road rationing plan.
“I can see a BJP conspiracy. They want to take advantage of such a situation and attack Kejriwal and the entire cabinet. They may also kill people,” said Sisodia.
“What if it was acid? The entire cabinet was sitting there and still no police personnel were present near the stage. They were there just for formality. They were not checking the public.”
The volley of allegations came after a woman identified as Bhawna Arora threw ink at Kejriwal as he was speaking at a function in north Delhi’s Chattrasal stadium, organised to thank the public for cooperating with the odd-even scheme that ended on January 15.
But the Centre and the Delhi Police refuted the charges, with a spokesperson confirming enhanced security arrangements were made.
“Certain allegations have been leveled against Delhi Police by some functionaries of AAP and even by Deputy CM Delhi. These are misconceived and unfounded. Appropriate law and order arrangements were made,” said Rajan Bhagat, Delhi Police spokesperson.
Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju also criticised the AAP. “Just because of one incident, how can you(AAP) make an allegation that it was orchestrated and instigated by the BJP? This statement is very unbecoming. AAP keeps telling on people to protest in an ugly manner,” Rijiju told ANI. A senior officer said an assistant commissioner of police from the north west district, four inspectors, the local station house officer along with around 250 constables to sub-inspector rank officials were present at the stadium. Authorities have registered a case against the woman.
The incident took place around 4.50pm on Sunday. As soon as Kejriwal started speaking, the woman lurched towards the stage, shouting about a “CNG scam” – an alleged nexus of false CNG stickers distributed to diesel vehicles in the city so that they could flout the odd-even scheme restrictions.
Cars running on CNG were exempt during the 15-day trial period. She then threw a set of CDs and some papers on the stage, before hurling ink at Kejriwal. Sources said she claimed to be a member of the Punjab unit of Aam Aadmi Sena, an AAP splinter group.
“We are against VIP security but when there is a programme where public is coming and entire cabinet is present, there should be some security,” Sisodia said in the wake of allegations that only civic defence volunteers were present at the event and were unable to control the public.