Combative Kejriwal vows to send Badals to prison

A combative Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday he won't be cowed down by protests and that he and the AAP will remain in Punjab till the ruling Badal family is jailed.

"We are here to stay. We are not going anywhere. Will send the Badals to jail," Kejriwal told the media on his arrival here on Thursday afternoon.

"I will be here (in Punjab) only and we have dug the 'khunta' (pole). We will not leave till we uproot the pole of the Badals," Kejriwal said.

"This is not an election, this is going to be a revolution," the Aam Aadmi Party leader said regarding the Punjab assembly elections to be held early next year.

When Kejriwal reached the Ludhiana railway station from New Delhi, he faced noisy protests by a group of people.

Launching a frontal attack on ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and its president Sukhbir Badal, Kejriwal said that he and the AAP were not afraid of the tactics adopted by the Badals and the Akali Dal.

"I was told by people in Punjab that Sukhbir Badal will do a lot of things against us, including making allegations. They (Akalis) have started doing that.

"Sukhbir Badal has hired a video company to make fake CDs on AAP. I have been informed that they have made 63 fake CDs on us. They are releasing these CDs now.

"We are not afraid of the attacks by the Badals," the AAP leader said.

"The people of Punjab are very intelligent. They will see the conspiracy by the Badals against us," he added.

Kejriwal, whose AAP is facing an internal crisis in Punjab, did not take any questions from the media.

He said that farmers in Punjab were in a bad shape and committing suicide.

"The farmers of Punjab used to be the most prosperous in the country. They are facing the worst crisis now. We have planned to make all farmers in Punjab debt-free by the end of 2018," Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal is on a four-day tour of Punjab which started on Thursday.

Kejriwal is visiting Punjab after the AAP sacked its state unit chief Sucha Singh Chhotepur, resignations by some AAP leaders and allegations of corruption in allotment of tickets for the coming assembly elections.

--IANS

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