On a day the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took a cue from a Bollywood movie and pronounced “My name is Arvind Kejriwal and I am not a terrorist”, it has named top leaders who are in jail, including the Chief Minister as the star campaigner for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, in apparent push to its ‘Jail ka Jawab Vote Se’ campaign.
AAP leader and a Ràjya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said the AAP convener has shared his message “….Kejriwal…not a terrorist…” from Tihar Jail and slammed the BJP for the treatment being meted out to him in custody.
The AAP on Tuesday announced a list of 40 star campaigners in Gujarat which also mentioned the names of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain all of whom are imprisoned, as the party’s star campaigner in Gujarat ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The list includes names of Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Raghav Chadha, Isudan Gadhvi. Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Pankaj Gupta, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Alpesh Kathiriya. However, names of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh who is also an ace cricketer and Swati Maliwal are missing from the list. Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP targeted the AAP over the inclusion of Sunita Kejriwal’s name in the list of its star campaigners.
“Along with corruption, nepotism is also welcome in the AAP,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
Notably, Harbhajan Singh is currently busy in IPL 2024. On Tuesday, the party kicked off a mega campaign called Jail ka Jawab vote se Sankalp Sabha.
Sunita, a former Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer, gained attention with her digital briefings, where she read out messages from Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in connection with the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case.
She has addressed three digital briefings so far in which she read out Kejriwal’s messages from ED custody and Tihar jail, where he is currently lodged. She also attended the Opposition INDIA Bloc’s ‘Loktantra Bachao’ rally on March 31 and read out her husband’s letter.
“Sunita Kejriwal is likely to visit Jharkhand to campaign for INDIA Bloc ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,” an AAP source said.
JMM chief and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in January in a money laundering case. His wife Kalpana Soren had met Sunita Kejriwal when she had come to Delhi to attend the March 31 INDIA Bloc rally.
Interestingly, the name of Swati Maliwal was not in the list of star campaigners, raising eyebrows that all is not well between Maliwal and Kejriwal since his arrest.
Kejriwal, also listed as a star campaigner, is currently in judicial custody in Tihar jail and has been running the Government from prison. Currently in judicial custody at Tihar jail, his absence reverberates through the AAP’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. His custody has been extended until April 23. Sisodia and Jain are also lodged in Tihar jail in connection with money laundering case.
The Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7 and the last date for filing nomination papers is April 19.
Earlier, the AAP launched a mega campaign called Jail ka Jawab vote se Sankalp Sabha.
AAP convener Gopal Rai said the campaign will continue till May 23. Under this, all party MLAs will hold meetings in areas falling under the national capital’s four constituencies - East, South, West and New Delhi.
“I will kickstart the campaign tomorrow (April 16) from the Vishwas Nagar Assembly constituency, and hold 40 sabhas… till April 22. Similarly, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh will begin the sabhas from Ambedkar Nagar, which will continue till May 23… All leaders will hold such sabhas and take a pledge against the arrest of Kejriwal,” Rai said.
He said, “The schedule for the sabhas as well as the MLAs will be released soon… Our target is to get 1 lakh people to take a pledge in the ‘Jail ka jawab vote se sankalp sabha.”
Rajesh Kumar n New Delhi
On a day the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took a cue from a Bollywood movie and pronounced “My name is Arvind Kejriwal and I am not a terrorist”, it has named top leaders who are in jail, including the Chief Minister as the star campaigner for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, in apparent push to its ‘Jail ka Jawab Vote Se’ campaign.
AAP leader and a Ràjya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said the AAP convener has shared his message “….Kejriwal…not a terrorist…” from Tihar Jail and slammed the BJP for the treatment being meted out to him in custody.
The AAP on Tuesday announced a list of 40 star campaigners in Gujarat which also mentioned the names of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain all of whom are imprisoned, as the party’s star campaigner in Gujarat ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The list includes names of Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Raghav Chadha, Isudan Gadhvi. Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Pankaj Gupta, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Alpesh Kathiriya. However, names of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh who is also an ace cricketer and Swati Maliwal are missing from the list. Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP targeted the AAP over the inclusion of Sunita Kejriwal’s name in the list of its star campaigners.
“Along with corruption, nepotism is also welcome in the AAP,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
Notably, Harbhajan Singh is currently busy in IPL 2024. On Tuesday, the party kicked off a mega campaign called Jail ka Jawab vote se Sankalp Sabha.
Sunita, a former Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer, gained attention with her digital briefings, where she read out messages from Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in connection with the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case.
She has addressed three digital briefings so far in which she read out Kejriwal’s messages from ED custody and Tihar jail, where he is currently lodged. She also attended the Opposition INDIA Bloc’s ‘Loktantra Bachao’ rally on March 31 and read out her husband’s letter.
“Sunita Kejriwal is likely to visit Jharkhand to campaign for INDIA Bloc ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,” an AAP source said.
JMM chief and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in January in a money laundering case. His wife Kalpana Soren had met Sunita Kejriwal when she had come to Delhi to attend the March 31 INDIA Bloc rally.
Interestingly, the name of Swati Maliwal was not in the list of star campaigners, raising eyebrows that all is not well between Maliwal and Kejriwal since his arrest.
Kejriwal, also listed as a star campaigner, is currently in judicial custody in Tihar jail and has been running the Government from prison. Currently in judicial custody at Tihar jail, his absence reverberates through the AAP’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. His custody has been extended until April 23. Sisodia and Jain are also lodged in Tihar jail in connection with money laundering case.
The Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7 and the last date for filing nomination papers is April 19.
Earlier, the AAP launched a mega campaign called Jail ka Jawab vote se Sankalp Sabha.
AAP convener Gopal Rai said the campaign will continue till May 23. Under this, all party MLAs will hold meetings in areas falling under the national capital’s four constituencies - East, South, West and New Delhi.
“I will kickstart the campaign tomorrow (April 16) from the Vishwas Nagar Assembly constituency, and hold 40 sabhas… till April 22. Similarly, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh will begin the sabhas from Ambedkar Nagar, which will continue till May 23… All leaders will hold such sabhas and take a pledge against the arrest of Kejriwal,” Rai said.
He said, “The schedule for the sabhas as well as the MLAs will be released soon… Our target is to get 1 lakh people to take a pledge in the ‘Jail ka jawab vote se sankalp sabha.”
