BJP is scared of public debate, says AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being 'scared' of participating in a public debate with her party, adding that the citizens of Delhi wanted to know the agendas of the leaders before voting for their preferred candidate.

"All the statements made by the BJP from this morning show that the BJP is scared of public debate. Debate is an extremely important thing in any democracy. Yesterday, Kiran Bedi said that she was ready for a debate, today she has stepped back. What is this going to show?" said AAP spokesperson Atishi Marlena.

Marlena also stated that the BJP does not want to confront the issues of Delhi, but the people of the city want answers.

"They want to know what their potential CM candidate thinks on the issue of women security. They want to know if Kiran Bedi thinks that girls should not be allowed to wear jeans, does Kiran Bedi think that women should have four children, or Delhi should get full statehood, electricity tarrifs, etc.," she said.

"The BJP is employing various tactics to divert attention from the fact that Kiran Bedi is scared of coming and having a public debate with Arvind Kejriwal," she added.

Earlier, Kejriwal had invited Bedi for a public debate, after congratulating her for being nominated as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi polls. He also requested Bedi to unblock him from her Twitter account.

Both Kejriwal and Bedi were part of the anti-corruption movement led by activist Anna Hazare before the AAP chief decided to form his own political party.

Bedi was named as BJP's chief ministerial candidate on Monday night and will be fielded from Krishna Nagar seat in Delhi while Kejriwal will contest Delhi from the New Delhi constituency.

The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held in a single phase on February 7, with the counting of votes set to take place on February 10.