Political Scandal Rocks Delhi Over Alleged ‘Assassination Plot’ Against State Chief

Political fighting is growing as the federally governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Delhi’s governing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are set to contest each other in the Gujarat state assembly and Delhi civic body elections, scheduled to be held in December.

India's AAP is once again at loggerheads with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP -- this time, over an alleged “assassination plot” against Delhi state chief Arvind Kejriwal.

Delhi deputy state chief Manish Sisodia on Friday claimed that the BJP was “hatching a conspiracy to assassinate” Kejriwal, demanding that a probe be conducted on the matter.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Sisodia alleged that the kind of language used by BJP parliamentarian Manoj Tiwari on Thursday against Kejriwal was an “open threat” and that a complaint would be submitted to the Election Commission of India.

“The language used by Manoj Tiwari proves that BJP is conspiring to kill Arvind Kejriwal. After failing in all its efforts, now BJP is trying to kill him. Manoj Tiwari’s statements have exposed the kind of conspiracy which is being strategized by BJP to kill Arvind Kejriwal,” Sisodia claimed.

He further stated that the BJP parliamentarian had mentioned that Arvind Kejriwal could be attacked at any time, but the question was how he could know about such an attack. “This must be investigated seriously by the higher and competent authorities,” the Delhi deputy state chief said.

Reacting to the allegations made by Sisodia, Tiwari said at a press conference, “I am concerned about Arvind Kejriwal’s safety. Sisodia is reading an old script of the BJP conspiring to kill Kejriwal. Kejriwal claims Sisodia will be arrested while Sisodia prophesies Kejriwal’s murder. I don’t know what is going on.”

Meanwhile, AAP lawmaker Saurabh Bhardwaj told the media that he had met the state election commissioner and submitted a complaint.

Bhardwaj said, “The Election Commissioner has agreed that it should be probed. We have a firm belief that the Election Commission will not work under the pressure of federal government and conduct a free and fair probe into the matter.”

The row broke out on Thursday after the BJP lawmaker took to Twitter to say that he was concerned about Kejriwal's safety because “people and AAP volunteers are angry over sustained corruption, selling of tickets (for the MCD polls), friendship with rapist and massage in jail incidents.”