New Delhi: A day after the CBI held raids against him, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday said it would be Arvind Kejriwal versus Narendra Modi in the 2024 general election.
“The way the BJP has been targeting Kejriwal and our other leaders, it is clear that it is scared of AAP and its popularity across the country. Maybe in the next three to four days, the CBI and ED will arrest me. But we will not be scared, you (BJP) will not be able to break us…the 2024 general election will be AAP vs BJP,” Sisodia said.
So far, Kejriwal has denied having national ambitions.
Targeting the BJP and PM Modi, Sisodia said, “The CBI has orders from above to raid us. But I want to thank them for not causing any inconvenience to my family.”
Sisodia claimed that the Delhi excise policy was implemented with complete transparency and that there was no scam.
“These people are not concerned about scam; their worry is Kejriwal who is loved by the masses and has emerged as a national option. They want to stop Kejriwal whose work on education and health is being talked about in the world,” he said.
Thanking the teachers of Delhi, Sisodia said the NYT article is an acknowledgement of their contribution to education. ‘The NYT article was not about me but about teachers of Delhi,” he said.
Two days after Kejriwal appeared to be pitching himself as a prime ministerial candidate with the ‘Make India Number 1’ campaign focusing on education, health and employment, the BJP on Friday launched its fiercest attack against the Aam Aadmi Party.
While the CBI conducted raids against Sisodia, the saffron party put forward multiple leaders to take on the Delhi Chief Minister and his deputy, targeting AAP’s favoured political pitch—education and health—accusing its leaders of promoting “rampant corruption”.
While launching the “Make India Number 1” campaign on August 17, Kejriwal had urged all political parties and citizens to participate in the mission that would provide “free education and health care to all citizens and employment to the youth, besides equal rights and dignity to women and fair crop prices to the farmers”.
Observers say what makes AAP different from other opposition parties is the fact that “it is not part of any alliance and is focused on its nationwide expansion. Besides, it has a leader with pan-India acceptability”.
While some believe Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could be the one to take on PM Modi, observers say what works better for Kejriwal is that his party has governments in two states, unlike other PM hopefuls like West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao and Kumar.