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Swati Maliwal speaks up on May 13 assault, Kejriwal, Bibhav, Rajya Sabha seat
Swati Maliwal said she would not resign from the Rajya Sabha under any circumstances after what happened to her.
Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP in an interview with news agency ANI recounted her May 13 ordeal and said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was present when she was assaulted by his aide Bibhav Kumar. This contradicted what Kejriwal said on Wednesday that he was not present at his incident site when the alleged assault took place.
This is the first time that Swati Maliwal verbally narrated the incident as the earlier account was gathered from her FIR against Bibhav.
"I went to Kejriwal's residence on May 13 around 9am. The staff made me sit in the drawing room and told me that Kejriwal would come to meet me there...By that time, Bibhav barged into the room. I told him Arvind ji was coming to meet me, what's the issue. I said this much and he started beating me...He slapped me seven-eight times. When I tried to push him, he grabbed my legs and pulled me down on the floor. My head banged on the centre table. As I fell on the floor, he started kicking me. I screamed for help but nobody came," Swati Maliwal said.
"It's strange that no one came out to help me. I was screaming," Swati Maliwal added.
On a question on whether Bibhav was instructed to beat her up, Swati Maliwal said, "It is a matter of investigation whether he acted on his own or whether he was instructed to do so. I am cooperating with the investigation."
"I am not giving any clean chit to anyone. The fact is I was being beaten up and Arvind Kejriwal was there," the MP added.
Swati Maliwal on whether she was asked to vacate the Rajya Sabha seat for any advocate
Replying to a question on whether her disagreement with the AAP stemmed from any request from the party to vacate her Rajya Sabha seat for a special advocate, Maliwal said, "If I had been asked politely, I would have given my life. MP post is a very small thing. If you see my entire career, you will see that I never hankered after any post. I left my engineering job in 2006 and joined Kejriwal. I worked at the ground level."
"I can work without any post. But now that I have been beaten up so mercilessly, now I won't ever give up my Rajya Sabha seat. I am the youngest woman MP. I will work very hard and become an ideal parliamentarian," Maliwal said.
'I know Bibhav since 2006, he is not an ordinary PA'
On Bibhav Kumar, Swati Maliwal said he was not an ordinary PA. "I know him since 2006. He gradually became very close to Kejriwal. If you see his house, even ministers do not have such a luxurious house. He is so powerful that it is believed that if you ruffle his feathers, then you are finished," Swati said adding that there were assault cases against Bibhav in the past too.
