‘AAP committed to INDIA bloc’: Arvind Kejriwal on row with Congress in Punjab

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said he won’t comment on an individual case but no one, big or small, will be spared in the war against drugs

NEW DELHI: Amid the political firestorm in Punjab over the arrest of a Congress leader lawmaker Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said his party was committed to the opposition INDIA bloc, and asserted that the AAP will not leave the grouping under any circumstances.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the AAP government was committed to eliminating the menace of drugs in Punjab (PTI/@ArvindKejriwal)

Kejriwal, however, did not speak on Khaira’s arrest, redirected a question on the case to the Punjab police and reiterated the AAP government’s commitment to eliminate the drug menace in Punjab

“AAP is committed to India alliance, and AAP will not separate from the India alliance in any condition. We are committed to the coalition dharma. Yesterday I came to know that a certain person was arrested in connection with drug menace. I do not have the details. You will have to talk to Punjab police for details, they can only provide you the details and why he was arrested, etc.. But the AAP government in Punjab committed to eliminating drug menace. The drug menace has destroyed an entire generation of youth. The scale of the drug menace is unimaginable. Punjab has launched a war against drug menace and we are committed to eliminating drugs menace. And no one however big or small will be spared in the war against drugs. I will not like to make a comment on an individual because I do not have details,” Kejriwal said at a Press conference in Delhi where he unveiled the city government’s 15-point action plan for the winter to fight pollution.

Khaira, a three-time Punjab Congress lawmaker, was arrested on Thursday in connection with a ₹10 crore heroin smuggling case from 2015, igniting a political row in which the two members of the bloc, the Congress which is the main opposition party in Punjab, and AAP which is in power in the state.

The Congress has hit out at AAP and accused it of doing vendetta politics. AAP has dismissed the charge and claimed that the arrest was made on the basis of evidence against the Congress leader.

Asked for his stand on the bloc’s presumptive prime minister, Kejriwal said his stand has been to empower the people. “We have only one stand, we have to create a system where 140 crore people of the country should feel that they are the PM. We have to empower the people and not an individual,” Kejriwal said.

The face-off casts a shadow on the possibility of an understanding between the two parties that are part of the INDIA bloc, which is aiming to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 polls. Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats, of which the Congress holds nine and the AAP one. This is also the first major public spat between the two parties since 28 parties decided to come together on a common platform earlier this year.

Khaira was in the AAP between 2016 and 2018, and also served as leader of opposition in assembly, before he was dismissed in 2018 and joined the Congress in 2021.