New Delhi: Union minister of state and Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra criticised the Aam Aadmi Party’s protest at Jantar Mantar on Gandhi Jayanti, alleging that the exercise was aimed at concealing the party’s potential defeat in Punjab.Malhotra alleged that the protests in Delhi and Mumbai, held in the name of protecting the right to vote, were not about safeguarding democracy. “AAP is trying to divert attention from the failures of its govt in Punjab. In Delhi, it staged the protest in collaboration with some communist parties,” he added.He claimed that neither Delhi’s youth nor ordinary citizens participated in the protest.Malhotra further alleged that the protesters assembled without permission, obstructed traffic and disrupted metro services. He also accused AAP of corruption during its 10-year tenure in Delhi and alleged that its functionaries were involved in the “liquor scam”. He said the party was now levelling allegations against the election commission out of fear of defeat.Malhotra said BJP had “always stood firm” in defending the right to vote, but added that “the right to vote did not mean spreading falsehoods, gathering crowds or attacking institutions.”He questioned AAP over the drug menace and unemployment in Punjab.Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor also claimed that AAP functionaries failed to attract the participation of ordinary youth or Delhi residents. He called the protest a “complete failure”.Kapoor said the protest, which alleged vote theft, levelled accusations against the election commission over Special Intensive Revision, and demanded the resignation of the chief election commissioner, was sign of “political frustration”.He claimed that AAP appeared to be facing defeat in the upcoming elections in Punjab and Goa and that the party was blaming the election commission to conceal its anticipated electoral defeat.
