Truth prevails in the end, Arvind Kejriwal on disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs

NEW DELHI: In the first major reaction on the disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs of the Delhi assembly, CM Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said at a rally: "Many obstacles come into your way when you walk on the path of truth and honesty. The path of the truth is full of obstacles but visible and invisible powers of the universe come out to help you when you walk on it. And in the end, the truth prevails."

Possibly fearing that the disqualification might undermine the unity of the party folks Kejriwal urged his supporters to remain united. "Remain united, keep youth faith. The truth will prevail in the end."

He indirectly targeted the BJP over the disqualification of the MLAs. "They tried to harass us. They lodged fabricated cases on our MLAs. They even targeted me with CBI raid but found nothing. Ultimately they disqualified our 20 MLAs," Kejriwal said.

God gave us a huge majority in Delhi assembly because he knew that 20 MLAs would be disqualified after three years, he told his supporters.


He later also repeated the sentiment in a tweet, saying: God must have given us 67 seats after putting in some thought. He is with the Aam Aadmi Party at every step, otherwise we could not have managed this result. Just don't give up the path of truth.

The AAP, too, hit out at the constitutional authorities and vowed that the party will not be "cowed down by such intimidatory tactics of Narendra Modi government."

"The disqualification of the MLAs shows that the constitutional authorities are behaving like handmaidens of the central government," AAP Delhi chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said putting forth the views of the party on the matter.

"The EC and its commissioners are expected to behave in an independent and impartial manner and not as political stooges of their masters who appoint them. Their unjustified and hasty opinions to please their political bosses will not stand legal scrutiny," Bharadwaj said.

The party claimed that its MLAs were not given an opportunity to present their case before the EC which recommended the disqualification without hearing the accused MLAs.

"We cannot be cowed down by the intimidatory tactics of the government. The party has complete faith in the judiciary and will challenge this biased, illegal and illogical order of the Modi government in courts of law," Bharadwaj said.

AAP lost 20 MLAs when president Ram Nath Kovind approved a recommendation by the Election Commission to oust the AAP MLAs from the legislative assembly, paving the way for by-elections in Delhi.

Soon after AAP won a majority in Delhi, it had appointed 20 MLAs parliamentary secretaries which are considered to be an office of profit thus the proceedings of disqualification were initiated against them. The MLAs who have been axed are Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gehlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal Khufiya, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar and Nitin Tyagi.

One of the 20 MLAs is a minister in Delhi cabinet.

AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai has hinted that the party will approach the judiciary. "We had hoped to go to the President asking him to give us a chance to present ourselves. Now we received this news. AAP will knock the doors of HC and even SC if the need be," he said.

The development does not threaten the AAP government in Delhi as it has 66 MLAs in the 70-member assembly. Still, the BJP and the Congress have demanded Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's resignation on moral grounds.