 "Centre, CBI, BJP working just to stop Kejriwal in 2024: Manish Sisodia")
The Centre, the CBI and the BJP are working with the sole motive of stopping Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal from becoming prime minister in 2024, embattled Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Sunday.
He also said the Congress was not an alternative as no one in the country was talking about the party anymore, and people were thinking about giving Kejriwal a chance. He also appeared non-committal on any future political alliance for the AAP, saying parties should come out of the "mindset of scratching one another's back".
In an interview to PTI, Sisodia, whose house was raided Friday by the Central Bureau of Investigation over alleged corruption in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, said "Ek mauka Kejriwal ko (One chance to Kejriwal)" has become a talk across the country.
He said the people of the country want Kejriwal to become prime minister as everyone deserves good education, healthcare, employment and cheap or free electricity "which can only be provided by the Aam Aadmi Party supremo".
Asked if the AAP chief has primeministerial ambitions, he said, "Of Course."
"But it is not a matter of an individual's ambition, it is the ambition of the whole country. Everyone wants good education, healthcare and employment, and cheap or free electricity. Only Kejriwal can provide these," he added.
Sisodia alleged "the BJP, the CBI, the Lt Governor and Delhi Chief Secretary, all have the only motive which is to stop Kejriwal. Otherwise, the 2024 Lok Sabha will slip out of their (BJP) hands."
"Currently, two things are being discussed in the country," Sisodia said. "On one hand is Modi and his government who seem to be always thinking who is to be targeted through ED and CBI raids, and how to topple governments. While on the other hand is Arvind Kejriwal who is pondering day and night how to make India number 1."
People can see "a clear difference" between these two, he claimed.
Asked if the AAP will approach other parties for an alliance for the 2024 polls, Sisodia said, "When people rise together, no political alliance works. Once people were with Modi, now they are losing trust in him."
He also dismissed suggestions that the Congress would be a credible force in the 2024 polls. "Nobody is talking about the Congress now in the country. People are watching either Modi or thinking to give Kejriwal a chance."
Asked about non-BJP parties' charge the AAP kept mum when they were targeted by the Centre, Sisodia said, "We are not in politics for 'Netagiri and Bhaichara'."
"The AAP talks about issues of education, health and employment. Every party should come out of the mindset of scratching one another's back, and talk about real issues for which people send them to Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha," he said.
"The AAP is one party that spares not even its own leaders if proved found involved in some wrongdoing," he said.
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Sisodia attacked Modi government over its development model.
"Where is Vikas?" he asked. "Modiji has no time even for thinking about price rise which is troubling people across the country."
The Kejriwal model is based on providing good healthcare, education, employment and controlling prise rise, he said. "These four things need to be replicated at national level but it is not happening under the Modi government."
Kejriwal will soon go on a countrywide mission to "Make India Number 1" and interact with the 130 crore people of India, he said.
"He will not meet any political leaders during during his tour of the country," he added.
Amid a raging debate on freebies, Kejriwal recently launched the AAP''s 'Make India No. 1' campaign, calling for utilisation of public funds to provide free education to children and healthcare facilities to citizens, among other things.
He had also invited the BJP, the Congress and other parties to join the "apolitical" campaign, even as he blamed the parties that have ruled so far, without taking names, for the slow progress of India since independence.
According to AAP sources, the ''Make India No. 1'' campaign is part of the party's renewed strategy to realise its national ambition by first breaching the BJP bastion of Gujarat, where Assembly polls are scheduled later this year, and then stopping the Modi juggernaut in the 2024 general elections.
The AAP''s strategy for realising its national ambition has been in the works since it stormed to power in Punjab earlier this year and opened its account in Goa by winning two of the 40 assembly seats, the sources told PTI.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)