Delhi Turned Into India-Pakistan By Centre, Says Arvind Kejriwal on 'Talk to AK'

New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal took questions from people across the country on Sunday in the first edition of his 'Talk to AK' show, a Q and A session that was part monologue on his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s achievements in Delhi and part forum to renew allegations against the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

Phone lines were jammed as questions poured in for the Delhi Chief Minister, who is prepping to widen his base beyond the capital with elections in states like Punjab, Gujarat and Goa.

The first question came 50 minutes into the show, uncensored. "On one hand you say (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji is not letting you work, yet you put up ads worth crores to publicise what you are doing in Delhi?"

Flanked by his deputy Manish Sisodia, and music composer Vishal Dadlani - the moderator for the session - Mr Kejriwal retorted: "If (the Centre) had not created such an India-Pakistan like situation in Delhi, we would have achieved four times more."

Accusing the Modi government of "paralysing his government", he went on to list the ways in which his government was utterly powerless because of the Centre's direct control over important subjects like police, land and law and order.

"We have heard that Amit Shah (BJP chief) is running the CBI," Mr Kejriwal scoffed, hitting out at the Centre over the arrest of his aide Rajendra Kumar and charges against his ministers.

"There is no case against Rajendra Kumar, he is being targeted."

The allegations took on an even sharper edge when a caller commented: "Your legislators keep getting arrested, why are they so bad?"

Rattled with repeated questions on his government's ad-spend on self-promotion, Mr Kejriwal also clarified: "We have not spent Rs 536 crore, but Rs 75 crore on ads in an entire year."

For the session that overshot by an hour, an auditorium was dressed up to look like the chief minister's study, with images of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev completing the effect.

"Talk to AK" is widely seen as Mr Kejriwal's answer to PM Modi's radio show "Mann ki Baat (from the heart)". The two-hour session was live-streamed on web.

The BJP's Satish Upadhyaya mocked the show as "Listen to AK" and alleged that it featured "pre-decided questions" from various cities but no "real" questions from Delhi.