Amit Shah incited violence in West Bengal, alleges Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that BJP president Amit Shah incited violence in West Bengal during the Lok Sabha polls.

"Whatever Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah have done in West Bengal is wrong. There is a limit to doing dirty politics. We strongly condemn the way Shah has incited violence in West Bengal," he told ANI.

"People of West Bengal will give a befitting reply to Modi and Shah. We all are in support of Mamata Banerjee," he added.

Kejriwal was referring to incidents of violence in West Bengal especially to incidents that took place during Shah's roadshow and to vandalisation of bust of iconic social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had also accused Shah of inciting violence and criticised PM Modi for not condemning the acts of violence in the state.

The AAP national convenor further said, "We condemn the openly biased role played by the Election Commission. The EC has allowed Prime Minister Modi's election campaigns while stopped others from doing so."

"We have never seen such a bias election commission in the history of India," the AAP leader added.

In an unprecedented action, the EC on Wednesday cut short the campaigning period in West Bengal by a day for the final phase of the Lok Sabha elections in view of the violence during Shah's roadshow on Tuesday.

Asked about AAP's poll campaign in Punjab, Kejriwal said, "I am campaigning for four seats and Manish Sisodia is campaigning for the rest 6 seats."

Replying to what will be the outcome of the general elections, Kejriwal said, "According to a leaked exit poll of a television channel, PM Modi's government is not coming into power again."

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday lauded the Election Commission's decision to cut short the poll campaigning in West Bengal and called violence at BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow a "classical case of breakdown of the constitutional machinery."

"A constitutional authority, the Election Commission of India, has effectively held Bengal to be a state in Anarchy. Repeatedly escalating violence, state-supported Vandals, partisan police and home department are the illustrations the ECI has given," Jaitley tweeted.

"A free campaign is not possible and therefore the campaign has to be cut short. This is a classic case of breakdown of the Constitutional Machinery," he added.

In Punjab, 13 parliamentary seats are at stake and they will go to polls on May 19.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies