Arvind Kejriwal hits back at PM Modi's ‘aapda’ remark, calls BJP ‘enemy of poor’
The former Delhi chief minister said that for 39 minutes in his 43-minute speech, the PM "abused Delhi people and govt elected by them with massive mandate".
A little after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘aapda’ (crisis) jibe at the AAP-led Delhi government, party chief Arvind Kejriwal responded to his remarks, saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party is an "enemy of poor".
The former Delhi chief minister said that for 39 minutes in his 43-minute speech, the PM "abused Delhi people and govt elected by them with massive mandate".
Kejriwal said that the Aam Aadmi Party did several things in the last 10 years, whereas the BJP-led central government "did not do anything that PM Modi could mention in his speech".
The prime minister, in his speech at Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground on Friday, had taken a jibe at AAP and said the national capital has been surrounded by a "disaster" in the last 10 years.
Taking a veiled jibe at Kejriwal, the PM pointed at how he built more than 4 crore houses for the poor and never built one for himself. "Mai bhi koi sheeshmahal bana sakta tha (I could also have built a palace for myself)," he said.
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Meanwhile, the AAP chief hit back at the prime minister's speech and described the saffron party has the "enemy of poor", saying that they "rendered over 2 lakh people homeless by demolishing slums in Delhi".
Referring to PM Modi's remark on an 'aapda' (disaster) being there in Delhi, Kejriwal said, "BJP is faced with 'aapda' as it has no CM face, narrative, issue for Delhi polls".
The prime minister and former chief minister's war of words comes ahead of the elections for the 70-member state assembly.
Further, Kejriwal reacted to the PM's "sheeshmahal" jibe at him and said he does not engage himself in personal attacks.
Earlier in the day, while speaking at an event in Ashok Vihar, the prime minister said that this AAP, 'aapda', has come upon Delhi. "Hence, the people of Delhi has waged a war against 'aapda'. Voters of Delhi have made up their minds to free Delhi from this 'aapda'."
He said that the AAP administration first indulges in corruption and then glorifies it. “First the theft and then the arrogance...this AAP has come to Delhi," the PM added.
Appealing to the voters in the capital, PM Modi had said that this ‘aapda’ (referring to AAP) has to be removed and a BJP government has to be brought in.