Narendra Modi 'salesman' par excellence, Arvind Kejriwal 'showman': Kapil Sibal

NEW DELHI: Union minister Kapil Sibal today hit out at both Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal saying the BJP leader was a "salesman" who does not see corruption of party leaders while the AAP chief was a "showman" who tries to paint everybody corrupt.

In his latest post on his blog, the Law Minister said, "The Opposition presents us with two alternatives to occupy the national space. One is a 'salesman' par excellence; the other is the quintessential 'showman'. The salesman has outsourced his own packaging; the showman packages himself outdoors."

The Congress leader maintained that while both BJP and AAP "cry themselves hoarse" about corruption, the salesman (Modi) targets the ruling party undaunted by "BJP's history of corruption".

"The showman (Kejriwal) projects himself as the epitome of virtue and brushes all other political parties as corrupt. It is sad that the politics of today throws up people whose credentials are suspect," Sibal said.

To underline his allegation, he quoted a series of instances where he claimed BJP had overlooked corruption charges against its leaders.

"Modi never felt any pangs of conscience when (former Karnataka Chief Minister) B S Yeddyurappa recently received a warm embrace from the BJP. Justice Santosh Hegde the Lokayukta sought his prosecution apart from severely indicting him," he said, recalling the cases against the CM as well as those against Reddy brothers- mining barons of Bellary.

Sibal referred to the corruption cases against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's kin, former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Sancheti and Modi's minister Babu Bukharia.

Attacking AAP, he said, "As far as the showman is concerned, he believes other than him, everybody else is corrupt. When it comes to his Law Minister, Somnath Bharti, despite the court's indictment of criminal wrong doing, he dismisses the verdict upheld right up to the Supreme Court."