DW BUREAU / Chandigarh/Amritsar

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged people to vote for AAP if they don't want him to return to jail.

Holding a roadshow in Punjab's Amritsar for the party's candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, the AAP supremo also claimed that the BJP will end reservation for SC, ST and OBC if it gets a majority in the Lok Sabha.

Referring to the BJP, Kejriwal said saffron party leaders are saying he will have to go to jail after 20 days.

"Whether I go (back) to jail or not depends upon you. If you press the 'jhadoo' (AAP's election symbol) button, I will not need to go to jail," Kejriwal said.

"While pressing the button, remember if you are pressing the button for Kejriwal's freedom or for sending Kejriwal (back) to jail," the AAP chief said. "When you press the 'jhadoo (broom)' button, remember that you are pressing it to save the Constitution and the country."

A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta on Thursday refused to consider claims and counter claims by advocates for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Kejriwal on statements related to the grant of interim bail to the AAP chief.

Appearing for the ED, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to Kejriwal's speeches in poll rallies that if people vote for AAP, he will not have to go back to prison on June 2.

On May 10, the apex court granted Kejriwal interim bail till June 1, the last day of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, and directed him to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.

The Delhi chief minister was arrested on March 21.

Referring to the BJP's "400 paar" slogan, Kejriwal said, "We asked why they need 400 seats. They said (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji wants to do many big works." "We found out that Modi ji wants to end reservation, which was given by Babasaheb Ambedkar," he alleged.

Attacking the BJP, Kejriwal said elections will no longer be held in the country if the saffron party is reelected.

It has done complete planning, Kejriwal said and added, "If it gets a majority, it will end reservation for SC, ST, OBC and finish the Constitution."

There will not be elections again and there will be dictatorship in the country, he further alleged.

These elections are not ordinary polls, he said.

"AAP is only fighting it (BJP) and that is why it is after us," Kejriwal said.

"They have put our big leaders in jail. But jail is not a problem for us. For us, the country and the Constitution are supreme," he added.

The AAP leader said he was thinking why "the BJP" put him in jail.

"What was my fault? I am a small person. Our party is a small party. We have (governments) in Delhi and Punjab. My fault is that we made electricity free in Delhi and Punjab and that is why I was sent to jail," he said.

They do not want electricity to be free, he said, lashing out at the BJP.

"My fault is that we set your schools in order. We are making arrangements for providing good education to the poor children, that is why they put me in jail," he added.

They do not want government schools to be set in order and children to get a good education, he claimed.

"My fault is that we are setting up mohalla clinics and making arrangements for free treatment and medicines," he said.

Kejriwal said it was ironic that he made treatment and medicines free for Delhi's 2.5 crore people but did not get medicines for 15 days when he was sent to Tihar jail.

"I am a sugar patient, I take insulin injections every day. When I went to Tihar jail, they did not give me insulin for 15 days. My sugar level reached 300 to 350. If the sugar (level) remains (high) for more days, then it can damage a man's liver and kidneys. I do not know what they wanted to do with me," he said.

"I had no hope," Kejriwal said before highlighting the Supreme Court's move to grant him interim bail.

Earlier, Kejriwal offered prayers at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, during his first visit to the state since being granted interim bail.

He also paid obeisance at the Durgiana Temple.
(editor@dailyworld.in)