AAP defends Kejriwal, says will file petition against 3 news channels

New Delhi, March 14: A day after

leader

allegedly said that media outlets were accepting money for favourable coverage of the BJP, his party has come out to defend him. The party spokesperson said that AAP would file a complaint against three news channels for an alleged bias towards the BJP.

Party leader Sanjay Singh on Friday said they will petition the election commission against three channels, India TV, India News and Zee TV, for their biased coverage in favour of Modi. He also said that Times Now also carried news that was biased against the AAP.

Singh also demanded a probe into the sting operation that had allegedly found evidence that opinion polls on channels were rigged. "There should be a probe into the matter and action should be taken accordingly," party spokesperson Ashutosh said.

This view was backed by former journalist Ashish Khetan who is also contesting on the party's ticket. Khetan said that the media had been targeting Kejriwal unfairly while letting off the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.

"There are so many issues but the media is behind only Arvind Kejriwal. Not even one question is being asked about Modi's rallies," Khetan said.

Modi was asked no questions related to 'Gujarat model of development' or public interest while they were constantly being asked of Kejriwal.

News channels take payment through cheques and it should be revealed how much money has been paid by each of the candidates such as Rahul Gandhi, Modi and others, Khetan said.

"Do news channels have a policy under which they state how much money has been received from each of the candiates?" Khetan said.

Attempting to defend the comments made by Kejriwal, the party spokesperson said, "Kejriwal has only said that some news channels are carrying the agenda of some political parties and it should be probed and action should be taken".

Soon after Kejriwal made statements slamming media, the Broadcast Editors Association issued a statement condemning the statement by Kejriwal and AAP.

"It is wrong to say that TV channels are pursuing a biased agenda in favour of any person or party," the association said. The association said that news channels were operating in a free and fair manner and said it had strong faith in the self regulatory mechanisms that it had in place. "Vague and sweeping allegations is a sign of weakness," the association said.

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