Kejriwal accuses BJP of launching ‘Ops Jhaadu’ to arrest AAP leaders

NEW DELHI: A day after the arrest of his aide Bibhav Kumar in the alleged assault case on Swati Maliwal, MP, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching “Operation Jhaadu” to arrest and jail top AAP leaders.

Later, he led a march to the BJP headquarters in Delhi to protest against the arrest of his aide Bibhav Kumar in connection with the alleged assault case of Swati Maliwal.

Heavy security arrangements were made outside the BJP headquarters after Arvind Kejriwal gave a call to march to the BJP office amid the ongoing blame game between the AAP and its Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal over her alleged assault at the Chief Minister’s residence.

However, the march was over nearly 30 minutes after Kejriwal reached outside the BJP’s office.

Addressing AAP workers and leaders at the party office, Arvind Kejriwal said: “BJP and PM Modi have started ‘Operation Jhaadu’ so that we don’t grow big and become a challenge to them. Through ‘Operation Jhaadu’, AAP’s

big leaders will be arrested, they are being arrested and in the coming days, AAP’s bank accounts will be frozen.” “ED’s lawyer has already given this statement in court that soon after the election AAP’s bank accounts will be frozen, he said that if they freeze our account now we will get sympathy... After election, they will freeze our accounts, our office will be cleared out and we will be brought to streets. These are the three plans made by BJP,” he claimed.

Some AAP workers were detained by the police as they tried to march towards the BJP headquarters to protest against the arrest of party leaders.

Later, Arvind Kejriwal marched to the BJP headquarters and sat with top AAP leaders there as the Delhi Police had barricaded the area.

After some time, he went back to AAP headquarters.

On Saturday, amid Bibhav Kumar’s arrest, Arvind Kejriwal attended several public meetings across Delhi where he appealed to voters to cast their ballots for AAP during the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi for seven parliamentary seats on May 25.

“It’s in your hands. If you want me to go to jail choose the BJP, otherwise choose the AAP. They (BJP) are after us. They arrested Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and me. Today they arrested my PA, now they will arrest Raghav Chadha, Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj,” he added.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla slammed Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to march to the BJP office on Sunday, saying the Chief Minister is doing “emotional atyaachaar (torture)” and questioned his silence on the Swati Maliwal case.