Is Modi scared of contesting against Kejriwal, asks AAP

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday asked the BJP to announce the seat from where Narendra Modi would be contesting the Lok Sabha election. The AAP also took a jibe at Modi saying if he was "scared" to take on their leader Arvind Kejriwal.

If the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate is not afraid of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, let him be clear from where he plans to contest the election against our leader, the party's national spokesperson Sanjay Singh said here. "Earlier, BJP was giving indications that Modi will contest from Varanasi and then Arvind Kejriwal announced he might contest from the same seat," said Singh.

"Is BJP scared of AAP? If that is not the case, then Modi should make his stand clear from where he would be contesting. We will decide our strategy based on that," he told PTI when asked if Kejriwal will take on Modi in Gujarat. "AAP has finalised its candidates from Gujarat and their names will be announced shortly," he told.

On the fledgling outfit's future strategy, Singh said, "We will go to each and every state. We will visit Punjab, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in coming days." The AAP spokesman slammed the Modi government for the attacks on vehicles of Kejriwal and another party leader Manish Sisodia during their Gujarat visit.

"People know on whose behest these attacks were carried out. There were loopholes in security." He sidestepped a query related to Kejriwal travelling by a chartered plane from Jaipur to Delhi, saying, "Ask the media group (which bore the cost of chartered aircraft)."

Earlier on Saturday, Kejriwal returned from Delhi to address a public rally at Bapunagar area of the city. Kejriwal, who is touring Gujarat to "verify" claims of development under Modi, visited the Sabarmati Ashram, which is closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi. "This is my second visit to the Ashram. It is a spiritual experience to visit here. Gandhiji's soul resides here. All of us must follow his teachings of truth and non-violence in these difficult times," the bureaucrat-turned-activist-turned politician wrote in the visitor book.

The former Delhi CM tried his hands on Gandhiji's charkha (spinning wheel) and went around the ashram.