AAP Chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that BJP would get him assassinated by his own personal security officer (PSO), the way former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed, triggering a strong response from BJP.
“The BJP would get me murdered by my own PSO (Personal Security Officer) one day like Indira Gandhi. My own security officers report to BJP,” PTI quoted Mr. Kejriwal telling a news channel in Punjab.
The Delhi Police reacted in a statement that said, “The unit has been providing security cover commendably for several high dignitaries of all political parties. The security personnel posted in the security team of honourable CM, Delhi are equally well committed to their duties.”
BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta condemned Mr. Kejriwal’s accusations and said that Mr. Kejriwal was provided Z-plus security with 400 to 500 personnel and the Delhi Police spent about ₹50 crores on it. “The BJP is after my life, they will murder me one day,” he said. Mr. Kejriwal was in Punjab, which goes to poll on Sunday.
On Saturday, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta “strongly condemned” Mr. Kejriwal’s accusations and said that Mr. Kejriwal was provided Z-plus security with 400 to 500 personnel and Delhi Police spends about ₹50 crore for it.
“The Delhi Police has given such protection only to one person, Arvind Kejriwal. In Delhi, two crore people are not getting that kind of security…The man who used to say that he was a common man, today moves with the highest security protection,” the leader added.
The city police does not report to the Delhi government and comes under the ambit of L-G Anil Baijal, who is appointed by the Central government.
Responding to the allegation, the police said that its security unit is a professional set up of well trained personnel who perform their duties with a high level of dedication and professionalism.
“The unit has been providing security cover commendably for several high dignitaries of all political parties. The security personnel posted in the security team of honourable CM, Delhi are equally well committed to their duties,” a Delhi Police statement said.
Mr. Gupta claimed that on May 4, before he got slapped during a roadshow at Moti Nagar, Mr. Kejriwal had told his liaisoning officer to “remove security from his vehicle”.
“His instruction is entered in the Roznamcha (Daily Diary), which I had exposed…Failure to get political advantage out of this incident in the elections has resulted in this new outburst that his PSO reports to the BJP,” Mr. Gupta alleged.
“If he has no faith in his PSO and doubts his integrity, he should have reported the matter to the police immediately and his PSO should have been removed. As he has made no complaint to the police, he is only trying to get cheap publicity and distracting the attention of the people by making such statements in the media,” Mr. Gupta alleged.
“I will be murdered and police would say it was a disgruntled party worker. What does it mean, if a Congress worker is angry with Captain saab (Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh) can he hit him? If a BJP worker is angry with Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi), can he hit him?” Kejriwal was quoted as saying by PTI.
On May 4, Mr. Kejriwal was slapped by a man during a roadshow in Delhi’s Moti Nagar area. The accused was arrested and the Delhi Police had said that he was a disgruntled AAP worker. But the AAP denied it and said BJP was behind the attack.
(With PTI inputs)