Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Kejriwal turned Punjab into 'ATM of corruption' to pay his legal fees: Shah

At a poll rally in Punjab in support of the BJP's Ludhiana candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu, Shah slammed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying they hug each other elsewhere but turn into enemies in Punjab.

Chandigarh: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday alleged that Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has turned Punjab into an 'ATM of corruption' and that he has been relying on it to pay the legal fees to fight his court cases.

At a poll rally in Punjab in support of the BJP's Ludhiana candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu, he slammed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying they hug each other elsewhere but turn into enemies in Punjab.

"I want to ask the AAP and Congress that you have an alliance in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat, then why you are playing 'noora kushti' (fixed match) here," Shah said.

The AAP and Congress, both constituents of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, have a seat-sharing pact in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls but are fighting separately in Punjab.

Targeting the AAP government in Punjab, the senior BJP leader alleged the state has been turned into a 'den of corruption' and urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to 'stop this corruption' since the people of Punjab are 'fed up' with it.

Training his guns against the AAP national convener, Shah said, "Kejriwal has to fight his case and needs to pay (legal) fees. He gets it from 'Punjab ATM'. Kejriwal has turned Punjab into an ATM of corruption." "He has to fight elections, he puts the 'Mann credit card' in ATM and takes money to Delhi," he alleged.

The BJP leader said the situation is such that if Kejriwal has to go to Gujarat, West Bengal or Chennai, Mann accompanies him being a pilot. "I do not understand, is he (Mann) Kejriwal's pilot or Punjab CM?" "But one good thing that Mann did is that when Kejriwal went to jail, he did not accompany him," Shah said taking a swipe at the Punjab chief minister.

Kejriwal, who was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, has been granted interim bail till June 1 by the Supreme Court to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls. He has to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.

June 1 is the last day of the seven-phase elections. The votes will be counted on June 4.