Arvind Kejriwal's visit is to gain political mileage before polls: SAD

CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal today hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of trying to stoke communal passions in Punjab and gain political mileage out of untoward incidents in view of the 2017 Assembly polls.

"It is condemnable that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who couldn't control rapes in the national capital, is trying to stoke communal passions in Punjab by visiting Amritsar and Faridkot today," senior SAD leaders including Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Daljit Singh Cheema said in a joint statement.

They said Kejriwal's visit to Punjab reflected a new low in Indian politics.

The Delhi Chief Minister, who has expressed helplessness in controlling rapes in the national capital, is trying to disturb peace in Punjab and create fresh trouble for a duly elected government, they alleged.

The SAD leaders said Kejriwal's first visit to Punjab since becoming the Chief Minister in February was "political in nature".

Comparing Kejriwal's with a "chameleon", they said, "In Amritsar, he claimed that he had come to express grief but immediately afterwards in Faridkot, he incited people against the government."

They asked why he did not visit Kashmir, "where anti- national forces were always engineering incidents of sacrilege similar to one in Punjab?

"This is because Kejriwal wants to gain political mileage out of these unfortunate incidents in view of the 2017 Assembly elections."

They said Kejriwal himself did not constitute an SIT to probe the 1984 Sikhs riots. "He never cared to appoint a Sikh as minister in his cabinet," the statement said.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi Chief Minister termed as painful the alleged incidents of desecration of holy books and said it was a "willful act" to disturb Punjab.

He also went after the Punjab Police over the death of two Sikhs in police firing during anti-desecration protests at Faridkot and asked the SAD-BJP government to restore peace in the state.