New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal -- out of Tihar Jail on interim bail -- told people at a roadshow today that he would not have to return to jail if they vote for him. "I have to go back to jail after 20 days. If you choose jhadu (AAP's symbol), I won't have to go back to jail," the Chief Minister said.
Mr Kejriwal's return to teh heat and dust of campaigning after 50 days in jail has reinvigorated AAP, which had been firefighting on multiple fronts. Senior party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said it would also be a "gamechanger" for the INDIA bloc.
Fresh out of jail, the Chief Minister has plunged into campaigning, holding a roadshow in Moti Nagar in support of Somnath Bharti, the party's candidate for the New Delhi seat. And there, he told the crowd that his absence would reflect on the work done for the people.
"If I went back to jail, the BJP would stop your work, free electricity, degrade schools and shut down hospitals and Mohalla Clinics," said the Chief Minister, accompanied by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann. "They sent me to jail because I worked for you. The BJP does not want that work of Delhi people are done,"
Delhi votes for its seven Lok Sabha seats on May 25.
The AAP chief, arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case, is out on interim bail till June 1, the day the voting for the Lok Sabha election ends. He has to surrender on June 2.
The Supreme Court, which was hearing the challenge to Mr Kejriwal's arrest, had unexpectedly sought to hear his bail petition also. While releasing him on bail, the judges said he was not a "habitual offender" and pointed to the ongoing election.
"There are elections (and) these are extraordinary circumstances, and he is not a habitual offender. This is a question of public interest," said the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta.