 "Arvind Kejriwal")
In a hard-hitting attack, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday called the BJP a "serial killer of state governments" and said he wanted to face a trust vote on August 29 to prove that no MLA of his Aam Aadmi Party defected and the saffron party's "Operation Lotus" turned out "operation kichad", or mud-slinging, in Delhi.
The AAP supremo went on to say that a "serial killer is in town" to topple governments in order to satisfy the "lust for power", linking recent raids by the central probe agencies against his ministers to the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat where, he claimed, the BJP's citadel is crumbling.
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi "Saheb" during a discussion on the government's resolution on good works in the Delhi Assembly's special session, Kejriwal said the nation is not with him in his "theatrics".
"The BJP's fortress in Gujarat is under threat and is crumbling now. The ED and the CBI raids on us are due to the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat.
"If we announce that we will not be in the fray for Gujarat polls, all the CBI, ED cases will be shut."
Talking about the recent CBI raid at the residence of his deputy, Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal said the central probe agency couldn't find a single unaccounted penny and couldn't even recover expenses of the raid.
"All anti-national forces have come together now, and are trying to topple the Delhi government. They are unable to digest the country's progress.
"They (BJP) toppled governments in Manipur, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra. There is a serial killer on the prowl in the city who is committing murder, one after another," Kejriwal said in the House.
Hitting back, the BJP said that Kejriwal's silence on the questions raised over the "scam" in the liquor policy of his government showed his "guilt".
Instead of replying to the allegations, Kejriwal again waisted the Delhi Assembly special session to promote his politics, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta alleged.
The special session of Delhi Assembly was extended by a day and the proceedings of the House will resume on Monday during which the AAP government will bring a confidence motion.
BJP leaders and workers staged a protest and burnt effigies of AAP leaders near the Delhi Assembly on Friday, demanding removal of Sisodia, who also holds the excise portfolio.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said the Aam Aadmi Party is rattled by the exposure of the liquor scam. "I want to warn Kejriwal that no corrupt will be spared," he said.
Attacking the prime minister, Kejriwal said, "On August 15 while addressing the nation from the Red Fort, you (PM Modi) said you need people's support in the fight against corruption. Saheb, had you been fighting corruption, you would not have had to ask the people for support."
Referring to the anti-corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare in 2011, the chief minister said, "I waged a battle against corruption in Delhi and people themselves joined in. This means that the country is not with you (PM Modi) in your theatrics."
Addressing the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal also alleged the BJP is using money collected through GST and hike in petrol and diesel prices to poach MLAs.
He claimed the BJP has bought 277 MLAs till now across the country.
"The price tag of each MLA in Delhi was Rs 20 crore and in Maharashtra it was Rs 50 crore. They have spent Rs 5,500 crore on 277 MLAs while Rs 800 crore are kept for Delhi, so this means they have Rs 6,300 crore black money.
"Where did this amount come from? They are using the GST funds and money earned from fuel price hike to waive loans of their friends and buy MLAs," Kejriwal alleged in the House.
He alleged that if the BJP's fight is against corruption, then they should take actions in these five cases -- "Gujarat paper leak, Bundelkhand Expressway scam, sale of spurious liquor in Gujarat, recovery of drugs worth crores from your friend's port, and donation to BJP in exchange of waiving Rs 10 lakh crore".
Reiterating that Sisodia has been framed in a false case, he said CBI and ED cases are filed against leaders to break them.
"This is the same pattern like a serial killer operates. We have not done anything wrong. We are not scared of going to jail," Kejriwal said.
Speaking in the Assembly earlier in the day, Sisodia called the CBI FIR against him "completely fake" as it has been registered based on "mere sources".
The Delhi Assembly special session on Friday witnessed stormy scenes with the ruling AAP shouting "khokha-khokha", accusing the BJP of trying to buy its MLAs, and the opposition hitting back with "dhokha-dhokha", referring to the alleged liquor scam.
Amid the sloganeering, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla ordered marshalling out of all the eight BJP MLAs for the entire day over an alleged video recording charge levelled by an AAP MLA against BJP chief whip Ajay Mahawar.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
