After controversy over another cartoon for the Delhi elections, days after the BJP said it would focus on a "positive campaign only," the party today said accused the Aam Aadmi Party of giving "casteist meaning" to a metaphor.
AAP has accused the BJP of targeting its chief Arvind Kejriwal's caste or 'gotra' in a cartoon-based ad that shows him threatening to disrupt the Republic Day parade one year and asking for a VIP pass for the next year's parade.
The BJP ad uses the term "upadravi (anarachist) gotra".
"The BJP targeted my children in their ad, but I kept quiet, didn't react... the BJP has been launching personal attacks on me through their ads, but today they referred to the entire Agarwal Samaj as 'Upadravi', Mr Kejriwal alleged today.
(The BJP ad targeting AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal)
In a counter attack, Mr Goyal alleged that it is Mr Kejriwal, who has in his campaigns described himself as a "baniya," who has attempted to use his caste to appeal to the trader community, seen as a traditional BJP votebank.
The Agarwals are prominent members of Delhi's powerful and politically active trader community.
Last week, another BJP ad depicted Mr Kejriwal's children. It also showed Gandhian activist Anna Hazare in a framed photograph with a garland around it.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had stepped in and had the ad withdrawn. He reportedly also insisted that the BJP's new aggressive campaign for the Delhi elections must be positive.
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