Kejriwal throws arrest challenge to govt: ‘Will come to BJP HQ tomorrow, put in jail whoever you want to’

The political drama amid the ongoing Lok Sabha polls tooka new turn with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's open challenge to the Union government to "put in jail whosoever" it wants to.

The AAP supremo said that "he would go to the BJP headquarters tomorrow along with his party's top leaders, MLAs and MPs at 12 noon and PM Modi can arrest anyone he wants to".

"You can see how they (BJP) are after AAP. One after another, they are putting AAP leaders behind bars. They put me, Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, and Sanjay Singh behind bars. Today they put my PA in jail. Now they are saying they will put Raghav Chadha, Atishi, and Saurabh Bharadwaj in jail. Maybe our fault is that we built schools and mohalla clinics, we provided free electricity, but they are unable to do it," Kejriwal said.

"I would like to tell the Prime Minister - you are playing this 'jail ka khel'. Tomorrow, I am coming to the BJP headquarters with all my top leaders, MLAs, and MPs at 12 noon. You can put in jail whoever you want," he added.

He then said that his party could not be crushed as Aam Aadmi Party was not just a political party but an "ideology".

"You might be thinking that by putting AAP leaders in jail, you will be able to crush AAP but AAP is an ideology that has touched the hearts of people," he said.

Kejriwal's remarks came after his aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested following accusations of assault on AAP MP Swati Maliwal.

Maliwal, the former chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), had alleged that she was “slapped, hit on the stomach, and kicked” by Kumar at the Delhi CM’s residence on May 13.

The arrest comes a day after Maliwal said that Kumar assaulted her in the drawing room of the Delhi CM’s official residence on the morning of May 13 when Kejriwal was present in the house.

The Rajya Sabha MP also claims that she had informed the staff about her presence and was asked to wait when Kumar suddenly ran into the room and began verbally abusing her.

“I made noise and said ‘Let me go,’ but he kept beating me continuously and abusing me in Hindi. He threatened, ‘We will see, we will deal with it’. I informed him that I was menstruating and in considerable pain, begging him to leave me alone,” Maliwal said, as per the FIR.

The Delhi CM’s aide was also summoned by the National Commission for Women (NCW), on Friday concerning the allegations levelled against him.

Reacting to Kumar's arrest, the chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) Rekha Sharma took to her official X handle and in a posting wrote, "Delhi CM's aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested from his house. So, the CM was giving shelter to an alleged criminal."

(With inputs from agencies)