Centre may topple HP, Delhi governments: Kejriwal

After imposing central rule in Uttarakhand, the central government will now try to topple the governments in Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Tuesday.

Slamming the ouster of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Kejriwal told the assembly here that he had learnt from a senior Intellegence Bureau (IB) official that the next state to be targeted will be Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh.

This will be followed by Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept to power in February last year winning 67 of the 70 seats.

"I am told they will disqualify 21 of our (AAP) legislators from the Delhi assembly and buy over 23 others," the chief minister said, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using money power to subdue the opposition.

"Forget buying over 23 legislators. If they have the guts, let them buy even one legislator," he said to applause from AAP members in the house, while the three BJP legislators walked out.

He added that "the officer informed me that a businessman, whose name we often take, has been given responsibility to buy our 23 MLAs to topple our government".

Kejriwal said the BJP, like the Congress earlier, had become "arrogant" after taking power nationally in 2014.

He slammed the central government's decision to "force" President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, calling them illegal.

Kejriwal also returned to the theme of the Pakistani team's visit to the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in Punjab that was attacked by Pakistani terrorists on January 2.

He said it defied logic why the Pakistanis should be allowed to probe an attack masterminded by the Pakistani intelligence.

"Not everyone is happy with the decision," he said, attributing it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"They (central government) use CBI when they had to raid my office but for probing the Pathankot terror attack, they let ISI allow coming to India. Are our intelligence agencies not capable enough to probe such incidents?" he asked.

Echoing the remarks he made a day earlier too, Kejriwal said New Delhi had always accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in India.

He said instead of allowing the Pakistanis to probe the Pathankot attack, Indian officials should have gone to Islamabad to question the Pakistani terrorist leaders blamed for terror attacks in India.