BackModi attacks Kejriwal over AAP funding row
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says 'the country won't forgive the dishonest' in an apparent reference to Arvind Kejriwal
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New Delhi: The war of words over allegations of dubious funding escalated on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of being “dishonest" while finance minister Arun Jaitley charged the party with converting black money into white through hawala means.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal hit back daring the government to arrest him if he has done anything wrong but said “it does not have the guts to do so". A day after a breakaway group of AAP accused the party of receiving four cheques of ₹ 50 lakh each on the midnight of 15 April last year from dubious companies triggering a major controversy, the AAP on Tuesday wrote a letter to the chief justice of India (CJI) demanding a Supreme Court-monitored special investigating team (SIT) probe.
It also offered to face derecognition and accept any punishment if the SIT probe found anything incriminating against it. Scaling up the offensive, Modi waded into the controversy and attacked AAP saying that it has turned out to be a party of dishonest.
“Now when the question of donation came up, they said we never asked for anything. They themselves credited to our bank accounts. People who know the persons with swiss accounts and had them inside their pockets, (now say) they don’t even know who put money into their accounts. They say we don’t know.
“These people (AAP) went around as honest. But when money is deposited into their bank accounts they claim they don’t know. The country may forgive mistakes but it will not forgive the dishonest. These people claimed that they were very honest but they have come out as dishonest," he said.
“The people who would once go around with Swiss bank account numbers in their pockets don’t know whose money is coming into their accounts," Modi said. Without naming Kejriwal, he wondered why those who used to travel by Metro train flew first class.
Modi said earlier Congress governments including those headed by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had also faced allegations of corruption. “People of the country do not pardon those who betray them... Rajiv Gandhi was punished because he claimed to be Mr Clean," he said while apparently talking about Kejriwal’s claim that he was honest.
“Those who posed as Mr Clean are exposed as dishonest today," he said. Modi also referred to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai and suggested that leaders who did not belong to the Gandhi family were unfairly targeted.
He said he is also being targeted by those who were getting patronage from the earlier dispensation at the Centre. Appealing to the voters to support the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming polls to ensure a stable government in the city, Modi resolved to make Delhi one of the best cities in the world and said “Your dream is my dream, your expectation is my expectation."
Talking about power sector, he promised to transform Delhi from a “generator capital" to “power generation capital". Modi said his government will come out with a policy for solar energy. “We want to bring revolutionary steps in the power sector," he said. People having solar power panels on their rooftops will be able to sell surplus power to the government, he said.
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