Lucknow : Anti-graft activist Arvind Kejriwal Thursday stepped up attack on External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in Farukkhabad and urged the people to “dismiss” their tainted representative in the 2014 polls, even as Congress workers clashed with his supporters.
“We urged the prime minister to sack him but he did not, now I request you to dismiss him in the general elections of 2014,” the India Against Corruption activist told an impressive and enthusiastic crowd. He asked the people to pit a disabled person as a candidate against Khurshid in the polls and also to ensure that the minister lost.
Earlier, the activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) which is backing Kejriwal, and the Congress workers clashed on the outskirts of Farrukhabad. The “skirmish was a minor one and some stones were pelted”, a police officer said adding that no one was injured.
Referring to his charges of corruption and forgery against the Dr. Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louise, Kejriwal also accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state of trying to save the tainted union minister.
They say a probe is being conducted, Kejriwal said adding that: “Where is the need for the probe as it has already been done earlier this year.”
“Now the time has come to lodge an FIR against Khurshid,” Kejriwal told the audience at the rally.
Enthused by the impressive crowd at the meeting, Kejriwal said that while he had seen various forms of corruption in his crusade against graft, the one done by Khurshid was “by far the most shameful”.
Accusing SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of working a “quid pro quo” with the union minister, he said they were trying to strike a bargain to get the SP chief off the CBI hook in his disproportionate assets case.
Referring to the threat given to him to try and come to Farukkhabad and also go back, Kejriwal said he was one of the many who did not care about their life.
“My life is in the hands of God. Until he wishes so, nothing will happen to me,” he added.
“I had been dared by Khurshid to try and come to Farukkhabad and also go back. Here I am and I am also going back safely,” he said, while taking a dig at the external affairs minister.
Earlier, Kejriwal reached the rally amid tight security provided by the state police. Congress and BJP workers showed Kejriwal black flags at two different places.
Farrukhabad, about 160 km from Lucknow and over 250 km from New Delhi, is the parliamentary constituency of Khurshid, who faces allegations of irregularities in the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust.