Shazia Ilmi clarifies, says not contesting against Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi, Jan 16: Amid reports that Shazia Ilmi may contest against Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi Assembly seat, the former AAP leader on Wednesday said she will not fight the upcoming Assembly polls from anywhere.

In a late night tweet, Ilmi said, "Was invited to speak at the National Defence College. Couldn't take media calls. I am not contesting from New Delhi or elsewhere, calm down folks."

Earlier, Kejriwal told reporters at a press conference that, "she (Ilmi) is a citizen of this country and is free to contest from anywhere she wants."

But hours after the press meet, Kejriwal took a swipe at Ilmi by re-tweeting one of her tweets, dated November 21, 2013 titled ‘Hypocrisy, thy name is BJP'.

Ilmi, who was in AAP at that time, criticises the BJP and the Congress over its funding in the tweet. She had contested the 2013 Assembly polls from RK Puram and lost by a slender margin.

AAP then wanted to pit her against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but she refused. Rejecting her demand to contest from Delhi, she was finally fielded from Ghaziabad, from where she suffered a drubbing.

Ilmi quit the party lashing out at a "coterie" surrounding Kejriwal, just days after the party faced a drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.

The former AAP leader also participated in Delhi BJP's ‘Swachch Bharat Abiyaan', but did not join the party.

Sources in the BJP said the former AAP leader could join the party in two or three days. The saffron party wants to field her against Kejriwal from New Delhi, but she is keen to contest from Okhla.

PTI