Rahul Gandhi Says Kejriwal Afraid Of Modi; AAP Supremo Reminds Congress Of National Herald Case

Rahul Gandhi trained his guns on Kejriwal at his two poll meetings in Patparganj and the Muslim-dominated Okhla and alluded to the 2020 Delhi riots, saying he was nowhere to be seen when violence and hatred engulfed Delhi.

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi (L) and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal (R). (Photo: ANI)

Delhi Polls: The temperature in Delhi’s political battlefield soared on Tuesday after Lok Sabha LoP and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi engaged in a heated war of words with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal attacking and cornering each other over cases of corruption.

Launching a blistering attack on Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the former chief minister came talking about bringing in clean politics, but the biggest "liquor scam" took place in Delhi under his watch while he got engrossed in "sheesh mahal politics."

Gandhi trained his guns on Kejriwal at his two poll meetings in Patparganj and the Muslim-dominated Okhla and alluded to the 2020 Delhi riots, saying he was nowhere to be seen when violence and hatred engulfed Delhi.

In Okhla, Gandhi claimed that Kejriwal was "afraid" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hitting back at the former Congress chief, Kejriwal said that the country knows who is a coward and who is brave.

अरविंद केजरीवाल जी शीशमहल में रहते हैं।

लेकिन जब ग़रीबों को उनकी ज़रूरत पड़ी तब वह कहीं नहीं दिखे।

जब दिल्ली में हिंसा हुई और अल्पसंख्यकों को उनकी ज़रूरत थी तब वह उनके साथ खड़े नहीं हुए।

साफ राजनीति करूंगा बोलकर उन्होंने दिल्ली में सबसे बड़ा शराब घोटाला किया! pic.twitter.com/apgElZxMhS

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 28, 2025

In a post on X, the AAP national convenor raked up the National Herald case and also took a potshot at Robert Vadra, asking Rahul Gandhi not to preach on fear and bravery.  “Modiji puts people in jail even by making fake cases like liquor scam. Why haven't you and your family been arrested in open-and-shut cases like the National Herald? How did Robert Vadra get a clean chit from the BJP? It is better if you don't preach on fear and bravery. The country knows who is a coward and who is brave,” Kejriwal said.

मोदी जी तो शराब घटोले जैसा फ़र्ज़ी केस बनाकर भी लोगों को जेल में डाल देते हैं। आप और आपका परिवार नेशनल हेराल्ड जैसे ओपन एंड शट केस में अभी तक गिरफ्तार क्यो नहीं हुए? रॉबर्ट वाडरा को बीजेपी से क्लीन चिट कैसे मिल गई? डर और बहादुरी पर ज्ञान ना ही दें तो अच्छा है। देश जानता है कौन… https://t.co/leVJ3abx2L — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 28, 2025

While speaking at poll rallies in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi also took a swipe at former deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia, calling him the "architect of the liquor scam."

"A battle of ideology is going on. On one hand, there is Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, and on the other hand, there is the Congress. The other parties are not based on ideology. There are only two ideological parties—the BJP-RSS and the Congress," he said in an apparent dig at the AAP in the Muslim-dominated constituency. "The more hatred the BJP spreads and the more markets of hate it opens, the more shops to spread love we will open," he asserted.

"The other parties, I don't know whether they are afraid of Modi or not, but Kejriwal is afraid of him. He had come and said he would do a new kind of politics, clean politics, but the biggest liquor scam took place under the AAP government," Gandhi said.

AAP and the Congress are allies in the INDIA bloc, an alliance of opposition parties that was formed ahead of Lok Sabha elections last year in a bid to topple the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA. In Delhi, assembly polls are slated to be held on February 5, and the counting of votes will take place on February 8. The national capital is witnessing a three-cornered battle in the elections between the BJP, Congress, and the ruling AAP.