Sunita Kejriwal and Kalpana Soren meet in New Delhi
The wives of jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former counterpart from Jharkhand, Hemant Soren, who is also in jail, met in Delhi today amid speculation that Sunita Kejriwal may take over the top post.
Kalpana Soren and Sunita Kejriwal hugged and greeted each other on camera, in what was seen as a show of strength against what the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) call the Centre's misuse of probe agencies to weaken the Opposition just before the Lok Sabha elections.
"Despite the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal ji and Hemant Soren ji by the dictatorial government, they (the two women) are standing strong and fighting with the people of their respective states," the AAP said in a post on the microblogging website X.
Showing her support to Sunita Kejriwal and her family, Kalpana Soren said the same incident that happened in Jharkhand has happened in Delhi, too, referring to the arrest of her husband.
"After arresting my husband Hemant Soren ji, Arvind Kejriwal ji has been arrested. The whole of Jharkhand stands with Sunita Kejriwal ji. We have shared each other's pain. And we have decided that together we will take this fight forward," Kalpana Soren told reporters after reaching Delhi.
While Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged money laundering in framing the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy case, Hemant Soren was taken into custody for alleged involvement in a Rs 600 crore land scam.
Longtime JMM leader Champai Soren took over the Chief Minister's post after the ED arrested Hemant Soren.
Sunita Kejriwal earlier this week in video announcements on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal launched a campaign, "Kejriwal ko aashirwad", and asked people to share messages on a WhatsApp number that she gave.
The video provoked a response from the ruling BJP, with Union Minister Hardeep Puri saying Sunita Kejriwal "is preparing for the role of Chief Minister".
Sunita Kejriwal is a former Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer who served in the income tax department for 22 years. She met Arvind Kejriwal during a training programme in Bhopal. She is from the 1994 batch, while Arvind Kejriwal is a 1995-batch officer.
She took voluntary retirement in 2016. Her last posting was at the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Delhi where she served as the income tax commissioner.