Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressing a press conference in Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal has sought to clear the air on the Lalu hug that launched a thousand hashtags or so.
Bihar politician Lalu Yadav, Mr Kejriwal claimed today, was the sole author of the warm embrace the two leaders shared on stage on the sidelines of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's oath ceremony in Patna on Friday.
"He shook my hand and pulled me into a hug and then he held my hand and raise it," said the Delhi chief minister, adding, "It was projected and questions were asked."
Photographs of the two leaders went viral on Friday and an Arvind Kejriwal tweet from two years ago was dug up to remind the former anti-corruption activist of his stand on Lalu Yadav when the latter was convicted in a corruption case.
Today Mr Kejriwal said, "We are against his record of corruption and we'll always oppose it." He pointed out that he was not in a political alliance with Mr Yadav, who is a partner in the ruling coalition that swept Bihar in the assembly elections this month.
He was in Patna, Mr Kejriwal emphasised, to cheer Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who led the anti-BJP Grand Alliance to victory. "Nitish is good person. People have told us that Nitish has done good work. We worked against the BJP there and supported him," Mr Kejriwal explained.
The two chief ministers have publicly bonded for several months now, meeting many times and praising the other, drawn together by a shared rivalry with the BJP.
Arvind Kejriwal made several vote appeals for Nitish Kumar, but did not accept Mr Kumar's invitation to campaign for him in the state. That was widely attributed to his unwillingness to be seen in the same political space as Lalu Yadav.
Friday's hug earned him criticism not only on social media but also from political rivals, including former AAP colleague Yogendra Yadav who said, "Political capital of the movement sold to symbols of political corruption. Ashamed!"