‘String of attacks part of plot to kill me’

NEWDELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Wednesday that the chilli power attack on him at the Delhi secretariat was an attempt on his life and part of a “larger conspiracy by other parties” while deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership of planning a “string of attacks to kill” the CM.

The BJP, in response, swung sharply the other way, contending that the attack was “stage managed” by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

“I have been attacked four times in the last two years, and it is no minor issue. Clearly, these attacks aren’t taking place, but are being ordered because we [AAP] have become an obstacle for them [other parties]. They want to kill me,” Kejriwal said in Sonepat, Haryana.

A west Delhi resident, Anil Kumar Sharma was arrested after he allegedly tried to throw chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday. He told the police that he had gone to ask for money for his ailing mother, but the police were unable to trace his mother.

The police, which had initially not acknowledged the attack and said that the chilli-powder packet had fallen, said on Wednesday that Sharma had been involved in another incident at the secretariat in 2017.

On that occasion, they said, he broke a glass window in the building.

Addressing a press conference in the Capital, Sisodia alleged that the string of attacks on Kejriwal were part of a conspiracy. He also alleged that the attacker was a BJP worker, and that the leadership of the party were privy to the attack.

Sisodia also accused Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor for failing to ensure the security of the elected CM.