Man claims to be BJP supporter, throws black ink on Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi, Nov 18: A man claiming to be a BJP worker today disrupted a press conference addressed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal by throwing ink at him and his party colleagues.

Nachiketa Vaghrekar, who claimed to be BJP general secretary of Ahmednagar unit in Maharashtra and that he revers Anna Hazare, accused Kejriwal of "betraying Hazare and betraying people".

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said it was "low grade politics"

Shouting 'Anna Hazare Zindabad', he entered the press conference venue and threw a can of black ink on Kejriwal. Some ink also splashed on his colleagues Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan who were also present at the media conference.

Kejriwal was addressing the media to refute allegations labelled against him that AAP's campaign for Delhi assembly elections was being run unfairly with unaccounted-for money.

AAP activists present there immediately pulled Vaghrekar out of the conference hall. Kejriwal, without naming any party, said "it was done by those whose vested interests were being hit due to AAP's growing popularity."

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas termed it as an act by BJP out of "frustration" while BJP said it was "low-grade" politics. "This is an act of BJP which is frustrated with AAP's growing popularity in Delhi. It is sending such type of people to disrupt our programmes," he said.

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said it was "low grade politics" and she does not believe the "story" as it has to be looked into whether it had any connection with Congress or AAP.

Kejriwal demanded an independent and open probe into its accounts and donations from Anna Hazare who had written him on Sunday that he was getting reports of misuse of funds and his name in the Delhi elections. Hazare had earlier written to Kejriwal after receiving complaints that money for the Lokpal Andolan held in 2011 was being used by Kejriwal to fund the AAP election campaign.

Kejriwal said he has already informed Anna he did not spend any Lokpal Andolan money to fund campaign and is ready to be probed to prove his innocence.

"I would request Annaji to conduct a thorough probe by anyone he wants like Justice (retd) Santosh Hedge or anyone else and the report should be made public within 48 hours, so neither Congress nor BJP could raise suspicion over funds," Kejriwal said, adding "if I am found guilty I would not contest elections".

"But if I come clean, then Anna Hazare will have to come and campaign for our party," he said.

PTI