New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal Thursday came out in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after a Surat court sentenced the latter to two years in jail in a 2019 defamation case. The court, though, later granted him bail and stayed the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal.
The two parties have been arch rivals since AAP ousted the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi in 2013. It has since been seeking to replace the Congress as the principal opposition party at the national level.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to eliminate non-BJP leaders and parties by prosecuting them,” Kejriwal tweeted minutes after Rahul was sentenced to jail over his allegedly derogatory remarks against the Modi community in 2019.
“We have differences with the Congress, but it is not right to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this. It is the job of the public and the opposition to ask questions. We respect the court but disagree with the decision”, Kejriwal wrote.
ग़ैर बीजेपी नेताओं और पार्टियों पर मुक़दमे करके उन्हें ख़त्म करने की साज़िश हो रही है
हमारे कांग्रेस से मतभेद हैं मगर राहुल गांधी जी को इस तरह मानहानि मुक़दमे में फ़साना ठीक नहीं। जनता और विपक्ष का काम है सवाल पूछना। हम अदालत का सम्मान करते हैं पर इस निर्णय से असहमत हैं
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 23, 2023
Kejriwal’s support has come at a time when the AAP — which in the past has maintained its distance from Congress-led opposition programmes — has been part of the Congress-led opposition bloc protesting inside and outside Parliament, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe (JPC) probe into the Hindenburg report on Adani Group.
Congress, meanwhile, has been equivocal in its stance on the arrest of AAP minister and Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case.
A day after Sisodia was arrested last month by CBI in a separate case, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, without mentioning Sisodia had come out in his support. He had tweeted: “Congress has always held the belief that institutions like ED, CBI & Income Tax Dept have become instruments of political vendetta & harassment under Modi Sarkar. These institutions have lost all professionalism. Oppn leaders are selectively targeted to destroy their reputation (sic)”.
His tweet had followed the Delhi Congress office reportedly celebrating Sisodia’s arrest. Senior congress leader Ajay Maken also numbered among those who attacked Sisodia over the arrest.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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