NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing political showdown with the
Aam Aadmi Party over the alleged assault on Rajya Sabha MP and former DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal,
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala on Thursday accused
Delhi chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal of protecting his personal assistant Bibhav Kumar.
Poonawala shared an image on his Twitter handle X on Thursday, showing Kejriwal,
Sanjay Singh, and Bibhav Kumar together at the Lucknow airport, saying that "72 hours No FIR on Bibhav Kumar instead Kejriwal is protecting him! Roaming around with him.."
He further alleged that the assault on Maliwal was carried out at the behest of the supremo of the ruling party in the national capital himself and that she was subjected to violence.
It was alleged that the incident reportedly took place at the chief minister's residence.
The BJP spokesperson said, "It is clear: attack on Swati Maliwal was done at (the) behest of Kejriwal himself Sheesh Mahal is Apradh Mahal & just like Draupadi cheerharan--a woman Rajya Sabha MP was subjected to violence, assault."
"Now she is being pressured to keep silent or change her story as is evident from statements of Naveen Jaihind & Nitin Tyagi of AAP hence she hasn't approached the police yet True face of AAP - Anti women anarchist party," Poonawala said.
Meanwhile, the vice president of the BJP's Delhi unit Kapil Mishra, shared a picture of Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, and Bibhav Kumar together at the Lucknow airport. He highlighted that the Rajya Sabha MP had condemned the incident earlier.
"This is the photo of Lucknow airport last night The one in the black shirt is Vibhav who hit Swati Maliwal Along with Sanjay Singh who said that Bibhav did a very wrong thing, Kejriwal is angry The third one is Kejriwal himself who is accused of getting Swati beaten up," Mishra said in a post on X.
Initially, the AAP remained silent on the matter, but senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh later acknowledged the incident, saying that the CM had taken due cognisance of the incident and strict action would follow.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Singh said, "Yesterday, an incident took place. At the residence of Arvind Kejriwal, an incident of misbehaviour took place with Swati Maliwal by Bibhav Kumar (Arvind Kejriwal's PA). Swati Maliwal reported this incident to Delhi Police. This is a condemnable incident.
Arvind Kejriwal has taken cognizance of the incident and has directed strict action. We are with Swati Maliwal."
(With input from agencies)