Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday met the family of his Delhi counterpart and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, and said the party stood rock solid behind him.
Mann, addressing a press conference, called Kejriwal a patriot and added he will emerge from this episode a bigger leader.
Kejriwal is not just an individual but an idea, he said.
The Punjab chief minister lashed at the BJP and the prime minister, alleging they were pursuing "dictatorship" and did not want any opposition leader to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
"Where is democracy in this country? In Russia, (Vladimir) Putin got 88 per cent votes. They are following Putin's path," Mann said, referring to the recent presidential poll in Russia.
Mann said he will continue to attend the meetings of the opposition bloc INDIA as he used to do along with Kejriwal in the past.
The INDIA bloc stands strong in this hour and in the coming days, "we will meet EC (Election Commission) and hold joint events", he said.
Condemning the BJP, he said it was scared of the AAP and Kejriwal.
"It's an illusion of the BJP that they can derail the AAP through the arrest of Kejriwal. Crores of Kejriwal have been born in the country in the last 10 years," he said.
The AAP is no longer a small party and it has grown to be a national party with governments in Punjab and Delhi as well as MPs and MLAs in many states, he said.
Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday night in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
