Arvind Kejriwal, out on bail, said he's ready to go to jail 100 times to save country
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has to surrender on June 2 in the excise policy case at the end of his interim bail period, on Wednesday said he is proud going to jail to "save" his country.
Likening himself with freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Arvind Kejriwal, who is out on interim bail in the liquor policy scam case, told Press Trust of India, "I am a follower of Bhagat Singh. If I have to go to jail 100 times to save the country, I will go."
The AAP convener is out on an interim bail till June 1 following an order of the Supreme Court, which has directed him to surrender on June 2. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Arvind Kejriwal also said the BJP will get less than 200 seats while the INDIA bloc will cross 300-seat mark after general election results are declared on June 4.
During the past few days, he has been campaigning in Punjab.
Attacking the BJP-led Centre, he said, "They (BJP) say Kejriwal indulged in corruption...they don't have even one proof. People are saying if Kejriwal is corrupt, then no one is honest in this world."
"They say there has been theft of Rs 100 crore. They conducted raids at 500 places, they did not get even one paise, did that Rs 100 crore vanish in thin air?" he asked.
The Delhi chief minister said that in a TV interview, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was asked that Arvind Kejriwal is saying you don't have any proof and no recovery has been made then why he has been arrested.
"PM accepted that they don't have any proof, there is no recovery and that is because Kejriwal is an experienced thief. If PM accepts before entire nation they don't have any proof, then it means entire case is fake," he said.
Arvind Kejriwal further said that he has been arrested "because the work which Kejriwal is doing, Modi cannot do".
"I made power free for people in Punjab and Delhi. We build good hospitals, mohalla clinics, all works which we did, PM cannot do. Therefore, they want to put Kejriwal in jail," he alleged.
Against their "goondagardi", the AAP is raising voice, he said. "They want to silence me, they want to break me, they want to muzzle my voice. But no force in the world can break me," the AAP chief asserted.
"I am ready to go back to jail on June 2. And I am proud that I am going to jail to save my country," Mr Kejriwal said.
On Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent remarks that "the Bhagwant Mann government will not last long after the BJP's victory", the Delhi CM alleged that he (Shah) threatened three crore people of Punjab that the AAP government which they elected would be dismissed after June 4.
"Have you seen such 'goondagardi' before. Against this 'goondagardi', I am raising my voice, against such goondagardi I am going to jail," he said.
He said the AAP has an overwhelming majority in Punjab with 92 MLAs in the 117-member assembly.
"Will they (BJP) break our MLAs, bribe them, threaten them...what will they do?" he asked.
"I want to tell Amit Shah that Punjabis can give an odd seat with love, but now that you have threatened them, these three crore Punjabis will give their reply on June 4," he said.
On the BJP's slogan of "400 paar", Mr Kejriwal said, "Why do they need 400 seats, government can run with 300 seats."
"We came to know that they want to end reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs," he alleged, referring to why the BJP is seeking 400 seats this time.
Replying to a question, the AAP chief said, "People are fed up with inflation and unemployment. They expect from the PM some solution. But when we watch TV, we find he only abuses (opposition) in his speeches."
"...People are angry that do they have to vote for them for such abuses. He (Modi) does not know about people's problems, he is living in his own world. I don't know which world he is living in," said Mr Kejriwal.
"In his interviews, he has started saying he is a God's avatar, and not a common person and so on...," the AAP supremo said attacking Modi.
"We follow Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva, Lord Jagannath, Lord Hanuman...I want the RSS to clear their stand, does it treat Modi as God's avatar?" he asked.
Referring to the period he spent in jail before coming out on interim bail, Mr Kejriwal said when he was in jail, he lost seven kg. "There has been unexplained weight loss, which is dangerous." "There is high ketone level in urine. All these things need proper examination and investigation, which doctors have advised. Let's see...," he said.
Polling for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held in the seventh and last phase of the ongoing general elections on June 1.
The AAP and the Congress, who are part of the opposition INDIA bloc, are fighting the polls in the state separately.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)