Priyanka says she is with Maliwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Swati Maliwal’s assault allegations on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar has triggered a political slugfest with various political parties responding to the incident. While the AAP chief dodged questions on the issue, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she was with Maliwal in this case.

She said, “If any atrocity happens to any woman anywhere, we stand with the woman. I always stand with women irrespective of which party they belong to. Secondly, AAP will discuss among themselves and make a decision. It is up to them.”

On Thursday, the AAP changed track and tried to play down the controversy, using statements such as “AAP is family” and “Don’t politicise the issue”. In fact, it tried to turn the tables on the BJP instead.

In a joint press conference by Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, when reporters persisted for clarification on the row, Yadav said “there are more important issues than this”.

“BJP is not loyal to anyone. BJP is a gang that slaps false cases,” he added. Kejriwal remained silent and passed the mic to Sanjay Singh who launched into an attack on the BJP: “The entire country is saddened by the fact that even today, when a Kargil soldier’s wife was paraded naked, the PM remained silent.”