Day after attack on Kejriwal, AAP workers hit streets, say BJP wants party chief eliminated

The AAP kept up its attack on the BJP and Delhi Police on Wednesday, a day after a man flung chilli powder on party chief Arvind Kejriwal, alleging the saffron party's leadership wants the Delhi chief minister eliminated and terming Delhi Police a "biased" force which protects "anti-social elements".

As the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers and leaders hit the streets and staged a protest outside BJP headquarters in the city, the party legislators also asked Kejriwal to remove Delhi Police from the list of his government's scheme where kin of martyred security personnel are provided Rs one crore as compensation, for its alleged "betrayal" with people in the backdrop of the attack.

Listing the attacks on the AAP chief in the run-up to the 2013 Delhi Assembly election and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, however, rubbished the allegations and said the attack on Kejriwal was "scripted" by AAP and that it was the ruling party's "modus operandi" before every election to gain "sympathy".

On Tuesday, a man threw chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat. The chief minister's spectacles broke but he was not injured in the attack. The attacker, identified as Anil Kumar Sharma, has been arrested.

The AAP MLAs in a letter to Kejriwal also criticised the "attitude" of Delhi Police in cases of attack on him, saying it puts question mark on "impartiality" of the force.

"Besides you, attacks on AAP leaders and workers take place and the attitude of Delhi Police in such matters raises question over its impartiality," they said.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged the BJP leadership had knowledge of the attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and that the opposition party wanted the AAP leader "eliminated".

"(Union) Home Minister Rajnath Singh called Kejriwal and asked him to file a complaint in the attack on him. Is this the way an attack on a chief minister should be probed?" Sisodia asked at a press conference. Sharma's Facebook profile shows that he is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said.

"The Facebook profile of the accused and his comments after being apprehended yesterday makes it amply clear that he is an member of the BJP. His profile photo is of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entire social media presence is filled with vitriolic hate against Arvind Kejriwal," Sisodia said in a statement. A purported video of Sharma's interrogation was shown during the press conference.

"The bonhomie between the accused and the interrogators can be seen," Sisodia said lashing out at the Delhi Police, which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has termed a "biased force".

In the past four years, four attacks have been made on the chief minister and the Delhi Police has not even filed a charge sheet in the first case, the deputy chief minister alleged. The Aadhaar card of the accused also revealed that he lived next to the BJP leader and former MLA Karan Singh Tanwar, according to the statement.

Sisodia demanded a probe into allegations that the BJP leader was present at the secretariat when the attack on Kejriwal took place. However, Sisodia said, "After failing to stop Kejriwal from working for the people of Delhi, now the BJP wants him eliminated. The entire series of events indicate that top BJP leadership had knowledge of the attack on Kejriwal."