AAP & BJP lock horns over Kejriwal’s NIA probe issue

■ BJP’s conspiracy: AAP ■ ‘Khalistani funding can’t be ruled out’

◗ THE BJP said that Delhi CM’s silent support to KLF and vice-versa has become well known since 2017 when during the Punjab Assembly election campaign, he stayed at the residence of KLF extremist leader

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP on Monday locked horns after Delhi L-G V.K. Saxena recommended NIA probe against jailed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding from the banned terrorist organisation ‘Sikhs for Justice.’

AAP leader and city minister Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that it is a political conspiracy of the BJP to make frivolous allegations related to AAP’s funding before every election.

However, BJP Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva, welcoming the probe, said, “Keeping in view Mr Kejriwal’s soft corner for Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) we cannot rule out him accepting financial aid from ‘Sikh for Justice’ too.”

Mr Sachdeva said that Mr Kejriwal’s silent support to KLF and vice versa has become well known since 2017 when during the Punjab Assembly election campaign, he stayed at the residence of KLF extremist leader Gurwinder Singh.

All along his political career as well as the phase he operated as an N.G.O. head. The country has seen that Mr Kejriwal has always had a soft corner for separatist causes. His support for people like Yaseen Mallik is also well known, the BJP leader added.

Mr Bhardwaj said that the BJP had made the same allegations just before the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections in which the Union home minister had also conducted an investigation but nothing was found.

Now once again, the same allegation has been made by Ashoo Mongia, a BJP leader and the general secretary of an organisation whose president is the brother of PM Narendra Modi.

Targeting the L-G, the AAP leader said, “The L-G is recommending inquiry to gain headlines about an allegation which the high court has dismissed two years back as frivolous. LG Saheb is an agent of the BJP and at the BJP’s behest, a big conspiracy has been hatched against CM Kejriwal. It is being done to tarnish the image of the AAP supremo.”

The AAP leader alleged that by making such trite allegations it is clear that the BJP is losing all seven seats in Delhi and the people will reply by defeating the BJP which insults CM Kejriwal, who has provided good education, health, free electricity, and water.

“Whenever the BJP sees an electoral defeat coming, it resorts to making such allegations so that it can mislead the public. Now once again they did it and this time also nothing will come out in the investigation and the public will not be misled by them,” added the AAP leader.

In a post on his X handle, Mr Bhardwaj wrote, “L-G Saheb has earlier asked for CBI investigation into a complaint by a person like Sukesh Chandrashekhar who is in jail for duping and cheating people with crores of rupees through his deception & manipulation. Sukesh had extorted 200 cr+ from a corporate house in the name of the office of HM Amit Shah. What more can be expected from L-G Saheb?”