New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday accused the media of being biased against his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Venting his frustration against the media, Kejriwal said that the media had accepted contract to finish off the AAP.
“TV channels did everything to destroy us before the [Delhi assembly[ elections and even now they are trying. But people will not be fooled,” Kejriwal, who took over as the Delhi chief minister following AAP’s landslide victory in February, said.
Supari term is generally used by the underworld which is hired to kill someone for money.
In his sharpest attack ever on the media, Kejriwal accused a “very large section of media” of taking bribe to target AAP. He, however, did not name who was bribing the media to target his party.
It is widely believed that the media played in key role in promoting Kejriwal when he walked out of a nationwide protest against corruption, led by social activist Anna Hazare to float AAP in November 2012.
Several media persons joined AAP and are now among its prominent leaders.
Relations between the media and AAP came under strain when Kejriwal banned media’s free access to the Delhi secretariat after taking over as the chief minister in February this year. Media had free access to all ministers, ministries and departments during Kejriwal’s first stint that lasted for 49 days when he took over as the Delhi chief minister in December 2013.
Since February this year, media has shown several tapes of sting operations aimed against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders conducted by disgruntled leaders of the AAP, straining the ties further.
“A very large section of the media has accepted contract for finishing off AAP. There can be a public trial. There can be 8-10 spots in Delhi where we can collect a group of people and show the erroneous clip. That way we can start a janta ka trial (public trial). If you see a channel showing a factually wrong report, take the channel’s name and bring it forward,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal trained his guns on media in his bid to defend his law minister Jitender Singh Tomar, who is facing allegations of faking his law degree. A university based in Bihar recently informed a Delhi chief court that it had never issued law degree to Tomar and the degree in question was fake. Tomar claims his degree is genuine and Kejriwal is backing his claim.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) Monday issued summons to senior AAP leader and Kejriwal confidante Kumar Vishwas and his wife to appear before it Tuesday on allegations of an AAP female worker with whom Vishwas allegedly had an extramarital affair.
The female worker has said that the allegations have ruined her marital life and Vishwas, despite her repeated requests, has failed to publicly deny the relationship. It was alleged that Vishwas had become physically close to the female worker while he camped in Uttar Pradesh town Amethi where he contested unsuccessfully against the Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi in last year’s general elections. Reports had suggested that Vishwas’ wife had caught them in a compromising position.
Vishwas Monday denied that he had received any summons from DCW and termed the charges against him as a conspiracy to assassinate his character.
DCW chairperson Barkha Singh, however, confirmed that summons have been issued to the couple who has been asked to appear before it Tuesday as it relates to “a matter of her respect”.
The woman worker in question has alleged that Vishwas ignored her repeated request to make a public denial about their relationship. “I have just asked him to come forward and make it clear in public that nothing happened between us. Why can’t he do that?” she said in her petition.
The woman in question has damaged AAP’s reputation further by asking all women to quit the party. “There is a possibility that today I am targeted and tomorrow someone else could be. I want to tell the women volunteers of AAP that if they want to have a peaceful family life, they should quit AAP,” she said.
