New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS): Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dropped a political bombshell on Saturday as he claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finalised its former MP Ramesh Bidhuri as its CM candidate for the impending Assembly elections and also dared him to engage in a public debate with him, the de-facto CM face of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Addressing a press conference in the capital, Kejriwal said, “Our sources tell us that the BJP has zeroed in the name of Ramesh Bidhuri for its Chief Ministerial candidate. The BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) met yesterday and finalised his name for the CM face. His name is likely to be announced in a day or two.”
Kejriwal said that the BJP was afraid of defeat and hence was dilly-dallying on the name of CM candidate.
“I have been the CM face of my party, since beginning. Why the BJP has not announced it yet,” he asked.
The AAP supremo also challenged BJP’s to-be CM candidate for a public debate and demanded that he shares his vision and roadmap for Delhi.
“There must be a public debate between BJP’s CM candidate and other parties including us. He must explain what he has done for the capital in past 10 years. Public should know their vision for Delhi, what they have done for Delhi and what is their roadmap for the city’s progress.”
He also accused the BJP of fiddling with electoral rolls by getting ‘fake voters’ registered in the voters list.
Referring to Sanjay Singh’s ‘revelations’ on sudden spike in number of voter registrations from BJP MP and former MPs’ homes, he claimed that the BJP was getting desperate and flustered over its loss in upcoming elections.
“Some specific slums have applied for registering 30-40 voters, some shops have given applications for registration of dozens of voters,” he alleged and asked where are these ‘fictious’ voters coming from.
Earlier in the day, AAP MP Sanjay Singh addressed a press conference and named former BJP MP Parvesh Verma and some Parliamentarians of using their house for 'fake' voter registrations.
“In the Lok Sabha elections, there were only 2-4 votes at the residence of MPs, now applications have been given for getting 30-40 voters registered,” he claimed.
For the 2025 Delhi elections, AAP has declared names of all its candidates while BJP has announced names of 29 candidates so far. Its list of another 41 candidates is likely to be announced in a day or two, say sources.