Will maintain silence on issues other than governance: Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today continued to target a section of the media, accusing it of maligning AAP and singling out children and wives of party leaders, days after he advocated a "public trial" of the fourth estate which drew criticism.

He said a section of the media was running a persistent campaign to defame AAP after it got an overwhelming mandate in the Delhi Assembly polls and that henceforth, AAP will maintain silence on issues other than those relating to government.

Kejriwal's comments comes in the wake of a complaint by a woman party volunteer accusing senior leader Kumar Vishwas of not rebutting "rumours" about an illicit liaison with her following which he and his wife was issued summons by the Delhi Commission for Women.

"Few media houses are maligning our party's image day and night in the past few months. I am deeply hurt. So we have decided to go silent. We will answer questions only on government and work being done by us. Have no replies to other questions," he said.

He also expressed anguish over media purportedly "dragging" the families of the party leaders in the public domain. "Is this journalism?"

"Your fight is with us. Please spare our wives and children. How long we will continue to give explanations," he said.

Kejriwal also sought to defend Vishwas saying "everyone is saying there is no illicit relationship".

"Both of them (Vishwas and the woman) are saying there is no illicit relationship but still channels are running all sorts of things. Even Kumar's daughter is unable to attend school as she is facing questions there. The whole family has gone into depression," he said.

Recently, at the launch of a news portal, Kejriwal alleged that a very large section of the media had accepted "supari" 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'," he added.