BJP leader Parvesh Verma has strongly refuted allegations made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that Arvind Kejriwal’s car was attacked during his campaign on Saturday. Instead, Verma claimed that it was Kejriwal’s vehicle that hit three youths protesting against him, and he accused the Delhi Chief Minister of directing the driver to intentionally run them over.
Verma, who is contesting the New Delhi assembly constituency seat, recounted the incident that occurred near Lal Bahadur Sadan. According to him, during Kejriwal’s door-to-door campaign, residents questioned the AAP leader on various issues like employment. Verma said that three local youths—Vishal, Abhishek, and Rohit—who were unemployed, tried to ask Kejriwal questions, but were allegedly beaten up by Punjab Police, and one of their phones was broken.
Verma claimed that Kejriwal’s car then struck the three youths. “The driver applied the brakes upon seeing them, but Arvind Kejriwal signaled him to run them over,” Verma alleged. “The youths have sustained injuries. This is an attempted murder, and we are going to the police station. The three youths will also file an FIR, and a case of attempt to murder will be registered,” he added.
Verma dismissed AAP’s counterclaims as baseless and challenged their narrative of the incident.In contrast, AAP accused the BJP of orchestrating the attack. The party took to X (formerly Twitter), claiming that Kejriwal was attacked by BJP “goons” while he was campaigning. “Fearing defeat, BJP panicked and got its goons to attack Arvind Kejriwal with bricks and stones,” the party’s official post read.
AAP further stated that the attack was intended to prevent Kejriwal from campaigning, but asserted that Kejriwal would not be intimidated.
Priyanka Kakkar, an AAP spokesperson, also accused Verma of being involved in the attack. “When Parvesh Verma was campaigning, he was shocked to see that despite all their efforts, the public was still supporting Kejriwal,” she said, calling for immediate action from the Election Commission. “This attack is condemnable, and we hope the Election Commission takes swift action,” Kakkar added.
The Delhi Assembly election is scheduled for February 5, with results to be announced on February 8. Parvesh Verma is facing off against Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency, where earlier this month, AAP had alleged that Verma was distributing money, shoes, and blankets to influence voters.
