Hours after Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came out of Tihar Jail, he hit the campaign trail in the national capital on Saturday, starting with a visit to the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place.
Kejriwal, accompanied by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, then addressed party workers at the AAP headquarters. He also answered questions about why he has not resigned from the CM post. The AAP chief also set a new narrative that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking votes for home minister Amit Shah’s ascend to the PM post. He cited the BJP constitution, as per which its party leader must retire after the age of 75. PM Modi is turning 75 next year.
This was Kejriwal’s second address within 24 hours. Released on a 21-day interim bail in the alleged liquor scam case late Friday night, he was received by a sea of supporters outside Tihar, where he addressed them and called his bail the “victory of truth”. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 on charges of being the “kingpin” of the alleged scam.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjeev Khanna and Dipankar Dutta granted interim bail to Kejriwal, noting that it is his right to campaign for his party during elections. So will Kejriwal's campaign pitch impact the Lok Sabha elections for the INDIA alliance? Will it put the BJP on the backfoot?
Watch.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.