In a bold message to the BJP, senior leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party today said that they are not going to be cowed down by the ED and CBI threats to arrest their leader Shri Arvind Kejriwal, issued because of the finalisation of its seat sharing with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
In a press conference, senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP National General Secretary (Organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak and senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister Atishi said that they are not going to be intimated by such threats and come what may, they will seal seat sharing with the Congress under the INDIA alliance.
The AAP leaders said that even if the BJP arrests AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, there will be an alliance with the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. AAP’s National General Secretary (Organization) Dr Sandeep Pathak said that a message is being sent to us that leave the INDIA alliance, otherwise we will arrest Arvind Kejriwal. We would like to tell the BJP that the day you arrest Arvind Kejriwal, there will be a tsunami in the entire country and all your bets will go wrong, because this time your facing Arvind Kejriwal.
AAP senior leader Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said that we have received information that the CBI will send a notice under section 41A of CrPC and Kejriwal will be arrested in two-three days. The BJP is nervous because in the states where the AAP and the Congress will contest elections together, its problems will increase, and it will become difficult for them to form the government. Atishi said that the BJP ruled central government has understood that it will not be able to get Arvind Kejriwal arrested by ED, that is why now CBI has been brought in.
Addressing media persons, Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said much against the expectations of the media and the Union Home Minister, who had said in an interview that the AAP and the Congress will fail to clinch an alliance, the seat sharing with the Congress is in final stage. Ever since the news came that Aam Aadmi Party and Congress have come together and reached a consensus on their seat sharing and it is going to be announced today or tomorrow, two things are happening. “The seventh notice of ED comes to Arvind Kejriwal ji on Monday and at the same time we are getting information from very trusted people that now not ED but CBI is also going to arrest Arvind Kejriwal ji. We even have information that a notice is ready for Arvind Kejriwal ji under section 41A of the CrPC. Today, the notice will reach Arvind Kejriwal ji and after that CBI along with ED will arrest Arvind Kejriwal ji. Some people also shared the timeline with us that within the next 2 to 3 days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested,” he said.
Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said now the question arises that what has happened that the Central Government is in such a haste. “They are saying leave the ED now, the ED case is stuck in the court, now, tell the CBI to arrest him immediately. People had been telling us this for a long time, we did not believe it, even our journalist friends say that as soon as you make a multi-state alliance with the Congress, Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested. And people associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party are also telling us that if there is an alliance, then Arvind Kejriwal will go to jail and if you people want to see Arvind Kejriwal out, then there is only one way for Arvind Kejriwal to not form an alliance with the Congress. Don’t be a part of the alliance. It is clear that there is a lot of nervousness within the Bharatiya Janata Party, they feel that if AAP and the Congress come together, then in all the states where there is AAP-Congress alliance, the problems of Bharatiya Janata Party will increase and it will become difficult to form government,” he said.
Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said the BJP claims to win over 400 seats but a party who is sure of reaching that mark does not leave the CBI behind an ex-governor, an elderly man. “These are not symptoms of going beyond 400. If you ask any political science student, the symptoms of 400 people are the symptoms of love; the symptoms of hatred are of a loser, the symptoms of a person who is afraid, the symptoms of a person who is standing on the verge of defeat,” he said.
Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said if the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Central Government wants to arrest Arvind Kejriwal, they can do it, but the alliance of Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress will remain intact.
AAP National General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak said the Bharatiya Janata Party was confident from the beginning that the alliance between Aam Aadmi Party and Congress was not going to happen. They were very happy that the alliance was not going to happen. “In the last few days, as the talks of the Alliance progressed and the Alliance almost reached its final stage, , the Bharatiya Janata Party was shocked, all their happiness was shattered. Now they sat together and redesigned their entire political strategy. What was the need to redesign their strategy? It is because there are many states such as Gujarat, Goa, Delhi where BJP’s political equations are now spoiled. So first of all, they wanted to arrest Arvind Kejriwal ji, their preparations were going on for a long time. But now in the renewed political situation, when they saw that it is not working through ED’s illegal notices, they have brought in CBI to arrest Arvind Kejriwal under section 41A of the CrPC. They have made their plan internally and they are sending this message through many people that you leave the alliance. If you don’t leave the alliance, we will arrest Kejriwal ji,” he said.
Dr Sanddep Pathak dared the BJP to arrest Shri Arvind Kejriwal and face the consequences. “I want to tell them only one thing that if they are trying to arrest Arvind Kejriwal ji, they will do it in a wrong way. But they have not done their political calculations properly. The day they arrest Kejriwal ji, there will be a tsunami in the entire country, all the well-meaning, good people will come to the streets and all their political calculations which they feel that if Kejriwal ji goes inside, then the party will break, this is going to turn upside down. Whoever is their political pundit, I would say that do your calculations properly, earlier you might have been in trouble with other parties, now you are facing Arvind Kejriwal. So, they can issue whatever threat they want,” he said.
Dr Sandeep Pathak said the AAP is not afraid of such threat of arrest and it will go ahead with the Congress under the INDIA alliance. “If we were afraid, then so many of our leaders who are in jail today would have surrendered by now. All our ministers, all our big leaders are in jail, they have left no stone unturned to destroy the party. When we have not been afraid till date, we will not be afraid in future too. Yes, we are going into the alliance for the country. We are going into the alliance for our personal gain, not for our profit. We are doing it for the country. We were standing for the country, will continue to fight and will continue to struggle,” he said.
While addressing the press conference, Senior AAP leader Atishi said, “We are all witnessing that, in the last 2-3 months, CM Arvind Kejriwal has received notices from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seven times. And now, the BJP-led central government has understood that they are unable to arrest Arvind Kejriwal through the ED. So, now the BJP-led central government is coming forward with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and attempting to arrest Arvind Kejriwal.
She stated that, according to reliable sources, a notice from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) will either come today or on Monday for Arvind Kejriwal. If he is arrested by the CBI, just as in the case of Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI first and a few days after that ED arrested him, a similar action will be taken against Arvind Kejriwal too.
Ms Atishi said that we are repeatedly receiving the same message to not form an alliance with the Congress for Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, otherwise, Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested by the CBI in the coming days.
“However, I would like to tell the BJP that no matter how many notices they send, how many summonses they issue, even if they arrest as many leaders as possible of the Aam Aadmi Party, or even if they hang them, we are not afraid of their threats. We have come out with shrouds on our heads. We have been fighting for the democracy of this country, and or the constitution, and we will continue to fight,” said Atishi.
