New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who spent over three months in London as the party hurtled from one crisis to another, has returned to India and met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the latter’s official residence Saturday.
Chadha’s prolonged absence from the country, ostensibly for eye surgery, at a time Kejriwal was in jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), had emerged as a talking point even in the AAP circles.
ThePrint previously reported that the AAP leadership was upset with both Maliwal and Chadha along with five other Rajya Sabha party MPs, for their largely muted role when it attempted to mount a strong pushback against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Kejriwal’s arrest on 21 March in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
#WATCH | Delhi: AAP MP Raghav Chadha arrives at the residence of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
He was in UK and had undergone eye surgery there pic.twitter.com/XUGuqxHBIY
— ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2024
In fact, according to AAP sources, it was among the reasons why Kejriwal didn’t want to meet Maliwal after his release on interim bail from the Supreme Court. The rift, of course, developed over the months despite her nomination to the Rajya Sabha in January.
On Friday, the AAP attacked Maliwal, terming her a “pawn” and the “face of a conspiracy hatched by the BJP” to implicate Kejriwal in false charges.
Initially, the party had sought to defuse the crisis by reprimanding Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar, against whom Maliwal has levelled charges of assault, for “misbehaving” with her.
On Saturday, the AAP released a CCTV clip that shows Maliwal being escorted out of the CM’s residence on 13 May, the day when the alleged assault took place.
Senior AAP leader Atishi told at a press conference that the clip further establishes that Maliwal was “lying” about being assaulted by Kumar at the CM’s residence. She also alleged that Maliwal has been in touch with the BJP over the last few months.
According to Atishi, Maliwal was forced by the BJP to level the allegations as she faces charges of irregularities in recruitment in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), of which she was the chairperson between 2015 and January this year.
“Maliwal is facing an alleged recruitment scam case being handled by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in which contractual employees were illegally recruited in DCW. This case has been going on for the last several years. An FIR has also been filed against her,” Atishi alleged.
She added: “Now, this case is close to ending. Therefore, it seems that the same formula of the BJP to file cases against different leaders must have been used on Swati Maliwal. Perhaps Maliwal was made to do this by threatening her about the case going on against her in DCW.”
Atishi also claimed that Maliwal’s call records should be investigated. “We have come to know from reliable sources that she has been in constant touch with BJP leaders for the last few months,” she added.
Meanwhile, after the AAP levelled the first set of allegations against her, Maliwal Friday hit back saying the AAP was defending Kumar as he holds “secrets” and was threatening to reveal them. She has not yet responded to the fresh charges.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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