Modi, Sonia AAP's prime targets in 2014 poll

Arvind Kejriwal slapped with multiple legal notices

Accusing them of leading “corrupt” people, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday included BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the top of its list of corrupt politicians in the country. 

However, strong reactions and slapping of legal notices was the highlight of the battle that has ensued following the declaration of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s list of corrupt politicians he intends to target in the 2014 polls.

“After a long discussion last night in our national council meeting, we decided to include the names of BJP leader Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to the list of corrupt political leaders of the country because they are the ones who lead these politicians,” said senior AAP leader Gopal Rai in a press conference.

“We identified three criteria for targeting political leaders in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The criteria include corruption, criminal background and dynastic connections. We want to free the country from all the three maladies,” he asserted.

“This is in continuation of our fight against corrupt leaders that we had started with our fast to demand a special investigation team against 15 corrupt ministers,” Rai claimed.Following in the footsteps of former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, senior party leader Ananth Kumar also sent a legal notice to Kejriwal. 

In the notice, Kumar’s lawyer has asked Kejriwal to withdraw his statement within three days, failing which legal action will be initiated. “I will initiate appropriate civil proceedings against Kejriwal for compensation and appropriate criminal proceedings against him for libel and slander,” Kumar told reporters in Bangalore. Union Minister Kapil Sibal said Kejriwal should either prove his allegations within two days or resign.

Sibal said: “I was surprised that a person who is holding the post of a chief minister has levelled an allegation against me. His intentions appear to be malafide, otherwise he would not have levelled such baseless allegations. I am surprised that he dubbed me as corrupt. I give him two days to hand me the proof of my corruption otherwise he should resign from his position.”

The law minister said if Kejriwal is able to prove his allegations, then he would resign as a Union minister and also quit politics.