With Gujarat Elections round the corner, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP's 'Operation Lotus'. Commenting on CBI's recent action against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal said that it was the Centre's plan to hurt the sentiments of Am Admi Party (AAP).
Speaking at Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal said that the Cente's action has increased AAP's vote share in Gujarat by 4 per cent and it would increase to 6 per cent if Sisodia was arrested.
"If he is arrested twice, then we might form government in Gujarat," Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal-led AAP brought a confidence motion in the Assembly on Thursday to prove that none of the AAP MLAs has switched sides. In the confidence motion, 59 out of 62 AAP MLAs were present. Out of the three absent, two are abroad and the third, Satyendar Jain, is in jail.
Three BJP MLAs -- Vijender Gupta, Abhay Verma and Mohan Singh Bisht -- were marshalled out as they "argued" with Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, who did not heed their demand to take up their calling attention notices before a discussion on the motion. The remaining legislators walked out in protest soon after.
A war of words has broken out between the two parties over the alleged misuse of funds under the pretext of developing schools. While BJP has accused AAP of only working on the optics of developing schools and running "schools cam", AAP has been vouching for the work the government has done to improve state-run schools in the national capital.
Even as AAP sees itself as the main contender to the ruling BJP in Gujarat, where the Assembly polls are due later this year, some political experts and the Congress feel the AAP will split the opposition votes, benefitting the BJP.
Earlier this month, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had announced 10 candidates for the forthcoming polls to the 182-member Assembly in the BJP-ruled state.
