New Delhi: High drama was witnessed on Monday at Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal's press conference when a man, claiming to be a Anna Hazare supporter and BJP activist from Maharashtra, threw black paint on Kejriwal while he was addressing a press conference. This later resulted in a political slugfest between the BJP, AAP and Congress.
Nachiketa Vaghrekar claimed he reveres Anna as his guru and accused Kejriwal of "betraying Hazare and betraying people". He entered the press conference venue and threw a can of black paint on Kejriwal and his colleagues Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan while shouting 'Anna Hazare Zindabad'. A small quantity of paint fell on Kejriwal's face while it also fell on Sisodia, Prashant Bhushan and Sanjay Singh.
AAP activists present there immediately pulled Vaghrekar, who claimed to be the general secretary of BJP's Ahmednagar unit, out of the conference hall. Kejriwal, without naming any party, said "it was done by those whose vested interests were being hit due to AAP's growing popularity." He claimed the position of both BJP and Congress was bad in Delhi assembly elections. AAP leader Kumar Vishwas termed it as an act by BJP out of "frustration" while BJP said it was "low-grade" politics. "This is an act of BJP which is frustrated with AAP's growing popularity in Delhi. It is sending such type of people to disrupt our programmes," he said.
A political slugfest soon broke out between the BJP, AAP and Congress with all the parties taking potshots at each other. While the BJP said Walnekar did not belong to their party, the Congress termed the incident as a publicity stunt. "If he was a BJP worker, then he wouldn't have raised pro-Anna Hazare slogans. He does not belong to BJP," senior party leader Sushma Swaraj told media persons. While another BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said Walnekar left BJP in 2009 and the incident was an attempt to "malign the party's image", leader of the party's state unit VK Malhotra criticised AAP, calling it "Congress's B-team".
Meanwhile, Congress leader and Delhi minister Haroon Yusuf said the AAP was "seeking publicity from such incidents". Kejriwal called the press conference to demand an independent and open probe into its accounts and donations from Anna Hazare who had written him on Sunday that he was getting reports of misuse of funds and his name in the Delhi elections.
