Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to announce its chief ministerial candidate by 1pm Wednesday and said that he is ready for a debate with whoever the saffron party chooses as the CM face for the February 8 assembly polls.
At a rally later in the evening, Union home minister Amit Shah hit back at Kejriwal and said that each BJP worker is prepared enough to engage in a debate with the Delhi chief minister. Later, the BJP’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari said that if Kejriwal wants to engage in a debate, he is ready.
Both the BJP and the Congress have not named their chief ministerial candidates for the Delhi assembly polls.
“People should be allowed to choose their chief minister. The BJP is depriving people of this right. People of Delhi want the BJP to name their CM candidate. If BJP declares its CM candidate by 1pm tomorrow, I am ready for a public debate with him and we will work out modalities for the same,” said Kejriwal, also the national convener of the AAP, soon after releasing the party’s manifesto on Tuesday afternoon.
Kejriwal said the BJP can decide place for the debate, adding that in democracy, people should have a chance to ask a question. By withholding the name of CM candidate, senior BJP leaders and Shah are demanding a “blank cheque” from the people of Delhi, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Kejriwal said the BJP can decide place for the debate, adding that in democracy, people should have a chance to ask a question. By withholding the name of CM candidate, senior BJP leaders and Shah are demanding a “blank cheque” from the people of Delhi, he said.
{{/usCountry}}“In a democracy, the chief minister is chosen by people not by Amit Shah... What if Amit Shah names some uneducated person for the CM post, which will be a betrayal to the people of Delhi,” said Kejriwal. He further said, “I ask people everywhere that your one vote will directly go to Kejriwal. People want to know where their vote will go if they support the BJP in the election. If they don’t have a chief ministerial candidate, it means people’s vote for BJP will go waste.”
Responding to Kejriwal, Shah said, “Kejriwal ji asked us to declare our candidate for chief minister and said he is ready to debate. For this, there is no need to announce a chief minister candidate. He just needs to tell us time and place as a karyakarta (party workers) from BJP will come to the debate. They are more than capable… As far as the chief minister is concerned, our chief minister is the people of Delhi.”
Shah and Kejriwal addressed four public gatherings in Delhi on Tuesday.