AAP vs BJP after liquid thrown at Arvind Kejriwal during padyatra in Delhi

The BJP and the AAP are at loggerheads again in Delhi, this time over a security scare for former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as a man tried to throw a liquid at him while he was holding a padyatra in Malviya Nagar ahead of Assembly elections, on Saturday evening.
Visuals showed that a man approached the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor when he was acknowledging the crowd and hurled a liquid at him, which was supposedly water, sources said.
The police and AAP supporters flanking Kejriwal quickly responded and caught the accused. Some of the party workers could even be seen thrashing the man. Police have arrested the man identified as Ashok Jha.

“During Padyatra, at around 05:50 PM, Arvind Kejriwal was shaking hands with his followers. Suddenly, one person, namely Ashok Jha, attempted to throw water at him, but he was immediately caught as the police staff was in proximity along with ropes,” a senior police official said.
The said padyatra started at the chopal Savitri Nagar and ended at Meghna motors in the same area. Arvind Kejriwal was the chief guest of the said padyatra, he added.
Kejriwal, reacting to the alleged attack on him, accused the BJP of a conspiracy and said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah should rather focus on the law and order situation in Delhi than orchestrating an attack on him.
“Amit Shah ji, you won’t gain anything by trying to stop me, stop crime in Delhi. Will crime in Delhi reduce if you stop me? Will shoot-outs in Delhi stop if you stop me? Will the women of Delhi become safe? Will the businessmen of Delhi become safe?,” Kejriwal posted on X.

AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj also blamed the BJP for the ‘liquid’ attack on Kejriwal, saying that the man actually threw some kind of spirit at Kejriwal in an attempt to ‘burn him’.
“One man sprinkled some spirit at Arvind Kejriwal and attempted to burn him alive. He had the spirit in one hand, and a match box in the other,” Bhardwaj said during a media briefing after the incident on Saturday.
The AAP leader also claimed that the law and order situation has deteriorated in Delhi under the Central government.
“BJP leaders carry out rallies in all states, they are never attacked. There are continuous attacks on Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP attacked him in Nangloi. He was attacked in Chhatarpur. The law and order in Delhi have collapsed and the central government and the Home Minister are not doing anything,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Delhi Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Atishi also claimed that the attacker was indeed a BJP worker.
“Today in broad daylight, a BJP worker attacked @ArvindKejriwal ji. The BJP is feeling very nervous about losing the Delhi elections for the third time. BJP people: Delhi will take revenge for such cheap acts. Last time they got 8 seats, this time Delhi people will give zero seats to BJP,” Atishi said in a post on X.

On the other hand, the BJP has hit back at the AAP, saying that the attack was the ruling party’s own doing.
“This is an attack planned by the Aam Aadmi Party only. Arvind Kejriwal makes people slap him, throw things at him. The news is that it was water that was thrown at him by a man who was drunk. This is Kejriwal’s political drama,” BJP Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva said.
He added that the AAP is baffled upon seeing the public support slide away from it. “The police have arrested the man, and I am sure that he will turn out to be an AAP cadre in the end, mark my words,” he added.
While the AAP and the BJP are busy levelling charges at each other, sources have said that the man is a bus marshal posted at Khanpur depot.
Jha (41), during interrogation, said that he was frustrated as he had not been getting his salary for the past six months, news agency PTI reported, quoting sources.
The removal and the proposed reinstatement of Civil Defence Volunteers (CDF) as bus marshals in Delhi has become a major bone of contention between the two parties in the last few months.
Over 10,000 former bus marshals in Delhi have been agitating for more than a year for restoration of their jobs. Their demand is that they should be regularised and not used as a political tool by parties by giving them employment for a few months.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a case against the accused and further investigation is underway.