NEW DELHI: BJP and Congress launched a scathing attack on Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, questioning the scale of the security convoy that accompanied him on Tuesday as he arrived in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur for a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat and his continued access to privileges even as he holds no office.
AAP returned fire alleging that BJP was engaging in an “unnecessary slander campaign” and claimed that Kejriwal was given security as per the Z-plus cover based on the threat perception approved by the ministry of home affairs.
Hoshiarpur SSP Sandeep Kumar Malik said Kejriwal was Z-plus protectee and the security cover was provided to him accordingly. Since losing the Delhi polls, this is the first time that Kejriwal has left Delhi and his decision to choose Punjab for Vipasanna meditation has yet again given rise to speculation of whether he is now looking at a bigger role in Punjab.
Last week, the surprise announcement by AAP of its Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora’s candidature for contesting the yet-to-be-notified bypoll for Ludhiana West constituency on Wednesday triggered speculation that the vacancy in the Upper House was being created to eventually make way for its party national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s entry to Parliament.
AAP leadership rejected the claim as it made it clear that Kejriwal was not going to Rajya Sabha.
A fresh controversy broke out when a video showing AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s 21-vehicle cavalcade went viral online on Wednesday as it entered the forest rest house in Chauhal, Hoshiarpur, on Tuesday night.
The count of vehicles, mostly flashing red-blue lights atop and indicating that they were police vehicles caught the attention of netizens and political rivals.
On Wednesday another video of him going to a vipassana centre in Anandgarh village, 12 km from Hoshiarpur, emerged in which the vehicle count was close to two dozen.
