‘They are finished’: Arvind Kejriwal’s sharp retort to Congress allegations in Gujarat

“The Congress is finished,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declared in Gujarat on Tuesday as he responded to Congress allegations that the Punjab government spent Rs 36 crore to fund Kejriwal’s campaign in the poll-bound state.

The AAP national convenor was responding to a journalist on the sidelines of his town hall address to the sanitation works in Gujarat. When asked about the fresh allegations levelled against his campaign in the state, Kejriwal asked, “Who made these claims?” After learning that the allegations were made by Congress, Kejriwal replied, “The Congress is finished. Don’t ask their questions. People already know. No one cares about their questions anymore.”

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Earlier, in a series of allegations, Congress leader Ajoy Kumar alleged that instead of paying timely salaries for the past two months, the AAP government in Punjab has spent Rs 36 crore in advertisements alone for Kejriwal’s Gujarat campaign. “Mann government is misusing public money for funding Kejriwal’s political campaign in Gujarat,” Kumar further added.

The Congress went on to call AAP as “Arvind Advertisement Party, Arvind Actor Party, and Arvind Aish Party” and pulled up Kejriwal over his dinner at an auto driver’s house in Ahmedabad, calling it a political stunt.

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“He travels in car, that is worth Rs 2 crore, to reach the airport. He then flies to Ahmedabad on a Rs 45 lakh chartered flight. And now he is doing this drama of taking an auto ride,” said Kumar.

Kejriwal has utilised the political vacuum in the opposition space in Gujarat to emerge as the BJP’s enemy number one, something that puts AAP in a direct battle with the ruling establishment instead of the Congress. “People don’t want BJP to govern the state. They don’t want Congress either. So, we are the only alternative left to the BJP in Gujarat,” Kejriwal told his party workers.