An auto in Delhi carries an election poster by AAP. (Photo: Agence France-Presse)
The BJP's Kiran Bedi has repeatedly asked in public why her once associate and now main rival Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party had offered her the "chief minister's post."
Mr Kejriwal had an answer today in an exclusive interview to NDTV. "I offered her the CM post because of her core values; I was shocked to hear that she was joining BJP," he said.
He had some questions of his own - "Her core values were anti-corruption so has her party thrown out members like BS Yedyurappa, Nishank and others charged with corruption? Has BJP changed? Or has she changed?'
He insisted that he will not "indulge in name-calling" against Ms Bedi, who has said that she finds Mr Kejriwal "toxic and very negative."
"She calls me toxic but I won't indulge in name-calling, I never do. I just don't know why she doesn't see that they are making her a
bali ka bakra (sacrificial goat) who they will forget after February 10,'' he said, referring to the BJP.
He alleged that senior Delhi BJP leaders "like Vijay Goel, Satish Upadhyay and Harsh Vardhan, who were all working separately to defeat her, have now come together. One of them, one or I should say many of the senior leaders called to tell me that they will ensure her defeat.''
Leaders of Mr Kejriwal's party, like Kumar Vishwas have called Ms Bedi a "BJP mole" when she was - like Mr Kejriwal - a key aide of Gandhian activist Anna Hazare in his anti-corruption campaign of 2011.
Mr Kejriwal said, "Mole may not be right, I think she was sympathetic...but you have to understand that at that time people with various sympathies joined us under the anti-corruption plank".
Ms Bedi joined the BJP just days ago and was promptly named its presumptive chief minister in Delhi. That puts her in direct contest with Mr Kejriwal, who has so far been drawing bigger crowds.
The AAP chief admitted his party had fielded too few women in these elections - only six out of 70 candidates, but he denied that leaders like Shazia Ilmi and Kiran Bedi had left the party because they were discriminated against.