Kapil Mishra says Arvind Kejriwal using MLA as ‘shield’

New Delhi: Mounting a fresh attack on chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra on Saturday accused him of using AAP MLAs as a “shield” after party legislator Sanjeev Jha anno-unced a hungerstrike to counter the rebel leader’s ongoing fast.

Mr Jha was detained by the police while he was proceeding to stage the planned hungerstrike outside Mr Mishra’s residence. He was taken to the Sarai Rohilla police station. Mr Jha has demanded that Mr Mishra come clean on the claim that he saw health minister Satyendar Jain pay Rs 2 crore to the Delhi CM.

In an “open letter” to Mr Kejriwal, Mr Mishra, whose hungerstrike ente-red the fourth day, again pressed for divulging the details of foreign tours undertaken by five leaders of the party.

“How much drama will you create to hide one truth. You are trying all tactics to divert attention. “You (Mr Kejriwal) made a strategy to use MLAs as a shield. However, only one MLA came forward to be that shield,” Mr Mishra said, adding that his next “expose” would be on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Mr Jha, who is an MLA from Burari, went to Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s mem-orial, to “seek blessings”. “On May 7, Kapil Mishra had said that Arvind Kejriwal had met Satyendar Jain where he paid him Rs 2 crore. My question to him is at what time did he meet the chief minister. Which car did he use? I have the entire day’s video footage (of people entering Mr Kejriwal).

“The whole world kno-ws about Mr Kejriwal’s credentials and he (Mr Mishra) should give evidence to back his claim. If it turns out to be true, even I will join him in his hunger strike against Mr Kejriwal,” Mr Jha said. Mr Mishra hit back at Mr Jha with another “open letter” and “advised” him to drink lots of water during the hungerstrike.