Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said he has no 'intention' of becoming the next prime minister of the country if the I.N.D.I.A. bloc wins the Lok Sabha polls, saying his aim was to save the country and democracy from the prevailing 'dictatorship'.
In an interview to PTI Videos, the AAP national convener also alleged that if the BJP comes back to power, all opposition leaders will be in jail and it will hijack the elections.
Kejriwal said the opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc's prime minister will be decided after the results of the Lok Sabha polls are announced on June 4.
He said he felt the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) bloc was gradually inching towards the 300 mark. "It will form the government on its own. The alliance will give a good, stable government," he added.
The AAP convener said he has no intention of becoming the next prime minister of the country.
"I have no such intention. We (AAP) are a very small party contesting only 22 seats," he said when asked if he considered himself the 'PM face' of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.
Asked if he will accept Rahul Gandhi as prime minister of the country, Kejriwal replied, "There has been no such discussion. It's a theoretical question. We will discuss it when we sit together."
Without naming the BJP, the Delhi chief minister said, "The current Lok Sabha polls were for saving the country and democracy from the prevailing dictatorship."
They will finish democracy if they come back to power, he said. "Elections will not be held and even if it takes place it will happen as in Russia. Putin either sent the entire opposition to jail or finished them and then held elections and got 87 per cent votes."
Kejriwal also cited the example of Pakistan to drive his point home.
In Pakistan, Imran Khan was sent to jail and his party and symbol were snatched, he claimed.
"They (BJP) will also do it... will send AAP (leaders) in jail, Mamata Banerjee in jail. No one will be left out. All will be in jail and then they will keep on winning elections. The concern of all right now is that they will not spare anyone," he said, when asked on the absence of a PM face or even probable candidates for the post from the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.
The AAP convener asserted that he expected the opposition alliance to sweep Delhi by winning all the seven Lok Sabha seats.
"There is such a wave of AAP and I.N.D.I.A. bloc that I would not be surprised that the previous records of Vidhan Sabha polls in which we (AAP) won 67 seats (in 2015) and 62 seats (in 2020) are broken this time," he said.
Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail in a money laundering case by the Supreme Court on May 10, said his arrest and incarceration was a sentimental issue for Delhi voters that will cause losses to the BJP.
There was 'tremendous anger' among the people who felt a 'good man' was arrested, Kejriwal said.
"We are hearing about dictatorship and people saying that they have to vote against this dictatorship. This sentiment is very strong," he added.
He termed his release from jail as a 'miracle of god' that has now energised the people.
"When I go for campaigning, people have moist eyes," he claimed. The AAP chief said he was sent to jail by the BJP, which thought this would lead to the disintegration of the party, but the opposite had happened.
"They (BJP) thought after my arrest, the campaign will be affected and our party will disintegrate, MLAs will break away and the government will topple. But the opposite happened. Our party became more unified, our leadership worked like a family and our workers were encouraged to work harder when they saw their leader was in jail," he said.
Kejriwal said AAP has plans to expand further in many states but was presently preoccupied with saving democracy.