BJP slammed the Kejriwal-led party over a derogatory remark allegedly made by an AAP leader. (File)
The AAP on Monday defended its Gujarat unit chief over his alleged derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hit back at the BJP, saying it is using an old video of Gopal Italia to target him now as he comes from a poor family and belongs to the Patidaar community.
Launching a counter attack, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also shared a purported video of BJP MP Parvesh Verma, in which he could be heard using certain derogatory words against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and demanded that the saffron party either clarify its stand on his remarks or take action against him.
"You are so rattled by the fear of defeat in Gujarat that you are releasing an old video of our state president Gopal Italia, when he was not even a member of AAP, to target him now as he comes from a poor family and Patidaar community," AAP's national spokesperson Sanjay Singh told a press conference.
"Italia belongs to the same Patidaar community whose leaders had been shot dead on the instruction of the ruling BJP (during OBC quota stir) in Gujarat," he charged.
At the press conference, the AAP's Rajya Sabha MP also showed a purported video clip of Mr Verma in which the BJP MP could be heard using the words "maha kameena", but it was not clear if he used these words for Mr Kejriwal.
Mr Singh, however, alleged that Mr Verma used those words for the AAP chief.
"We are officially releasing this video today. BJP MP Parvesh Verma used utterly derogatory words for three-time elected Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who is a popular leader in the country and holds the respect of the poor, common man and people across the country and the globe," Singh said.
"If the prime minister and the BJP have a shred of moral courage, they should come forward and tell if such a person deserves to be their party's MP?" he said, demanding that the BJP either make its stand clear on Mr Verma's remark or take action against him.
Earlier in the day, BJP slammed the Kejriwal-led party over a derogatory remark allegedly made by Italia against Prime Minister Modi and said that it was an "insult to the democratic process of India and the state".
BJP's IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya had on Sunday shared the purported video of Italia on Twitter where Italia can be heard calling PM Modi "neech aadmi" (a lowly person).
It has been reported that the video is from 2019 and was made during the run-up to the general elections.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)