The BJP-AAP stand-off intensified on Friday, with the saffron party lodging a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) after Wednesday's clashes in front of its headquarters and the EC serving a notice to AAP.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police arrested 14 AAP workers and slapped cases of rioting against AAP leaders Ashutosh and Shazia Ilmi, who were leading the protest in Delhi against Arvind Kejriwal's detention in Gujarat during his four-day election campaign there. The arrested AAP members were later released on bail.
Accusing the police of bias, the AAP questioned why no BJP worker was booked or arrested for clashes between the two parties that left 28 people injured.
An AAP worker who was present at the protest said: “They pelted stones at us from inside, but none of the BJP workers has been arrested.” Another wondered if the Delhi police is “settling scores” because Kejriwal had taken them to task during his 49-day tenure as Chief Minister.
Lashing out at Kejriwal, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the former is making his “non-detention” a “national crisis”. “If Joseph Goebbels (Hitler's media manager) was reborn he surely would have joined the Aam Aadmi Party,” he wrote in his blog.
Earlier in the day, a Delhi police report submitted to the EC following the BJP’s complaint blamed the AAP for “initiating” the attack at the BJP office and accused its workers of pelting stones at policemen who tried to stop them. Later, the AAP was served a notice by the EC.
Kejriwal, who is touring Gujarat, the turf of the BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, had apologised on Wednesday for the incident, but also accused the BJP of “instigating” the clashes. Kejriwal, who has been projecting the AAP as a ‘third’ option in the polls, has been publicly attacking the Congress and the BJP, especially Modi, for their “corporate” connections.