The attacker being detained by police personnel following the incident in the Capital’s Greater Kailash area on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
A man threw a liquid on former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal during his padayatra in the Capital’s Greater Kailash Assembly constituency on Saturday.
A war of words ensued between the ruling AAP and the BJP following the incident, with Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleging that the attacker was a worker of the Opposition party who threw spirit on Mr. Kejriwal to “set him afire”.
“The man was carrying spirit in one hand and a matchbox in the other. He threw spirit that fell on Kejriwal and me but he could not start the fire. Our alert volunteers and the public overpowered him,” he told reporters.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor dismissed the accusation and asked why such incidents take place with the AAP chief “ahead of every Assembly election”.
The police also rejected Mr. Bharadwaj’s claim, saying the liquid thrown on the former CM was water. DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan said the attacker was identified as Ashok Jha, who works as a bus marshal.
A Delhi Transport Corporation official confirmed that Mr. Jha, a home guard, worked as a bus marshal at the Khanpur bus depot.
“When Mr. Kejriwal was shaking hands with his supporters, Jha threw water at him, but he was immediately caught,” the DCP said.
The officer said though AAP did not have permission to carry out the padayatra in the area, they had deployed security personnel in both uniform and plain clothes for crowd control.
The police were yet to register an FIR till the time of going to press. Another police officer said they would take a call on the registration of an FIR following Mr. Jha’s interrogation.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi condemned the incident.
In a post on X, Ms. Atishi said, “Today, in broad daylight, a BJP worker attacked Arvind Kejriwal ji. The BJP is nervous about losing the Delhi poll for the third time. People of Delhi will take revenge for such cheap acts. Last time, they [BJP] got eight seats, this time, people of Delhi will give them zero seats.”
In response, Mr. Kapoor expressed apprehensions over the incident.
‘Doubts proved right’
“Elections are held across the country, and leaders, whether good or bad, participate in campaigns under varying levels of security. However, such incidents occur only with Kejriwal during every Assembly poll,” he said.
“The BJP condemns all forms of violent protests. However, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva had already said that Kejriwal, now desperate, would orchestrate another spectacle, much like the previous slapping incident. Now, that suspicion has been proven right,” he said.
Published – December 01, 2024 01:25 am IST