'If Manish Sisodia Was Here': Swati Maliwal Slams AAP Over Protest March to BJP HQ

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP and former DCW chief Swtai Maliwal on Sunday, May 19, launched an all-out attack on the Aam Aadmi Party over its protest march. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had announced protest march to Bharatiya Janata Party's headquarters on Sunday following the arrest of Bibhav Kumar. 

Mounting attack at her former colleagues, Swati Maliwal said that the leaders who once sought justice for Nirbhaya are today supporting a person accused of assaulting her. AAP has accused Swati Maliwal of being part of a conspiracy to frame Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a false case.  She said if AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is in jail in connection with the Delhi excise police case, had been here "maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!" 

Maliwal, who has been associated with the AAP since its inception more than 10 years ago, said on Sunday there was a time when "we all used to come out on the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya". "Today, 12 years later, we have come out on the streets to save the accused (Bibhav Kumar) who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone? I wish they had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. Had he been here, maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!" she wrote in a post on X. 

AAP vs Swati over assaultgate 

Swati Maliwal has alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar assaulted her on May 13 when she went to the CM's residence to meet him. The Aam Aadmi Party has trashed her allegations and claimed Maliwal was acting at the behest of the BJP to frame Kejriwal in a fake case.

“This whole incident of Swati Maliwal is a conspiracy hatched by BJP. Swati Maliwal is being used as a pawn in this conspiracy as there is a case against her in ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau). Chargesheet has been made in the illegal recruitment case against her and she is near to getting convicted. This is BJP's standard operating procedure...this is the same Delhi Police who did not file an FIR on Brij Bhushan Singh until court intervened, even though women wrestlers sit on the streets. In this case, no FIR has been registered against the complaint given by Bibhav Kumar over the security breach of CM residence by Swati Maliwal and trespassing...Delhi Police is working as per the direction of BJP,” said AAP leader Atishi. 

Arvind Kejriwal's Call For Protest 

Following the FIR by Maliwal in the matter, the Delhi Police on Saturday detained Bibhav Kumar. Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal at the CM's residence on Saturday and was remanded to 5-day Police custody. Bibhav Kumar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal who sent him to five- day police custody. Police, through their counsel, had sought seven-day custody of Kumar to question him in connection with the assault case.

After his arrest, Kejriwal claimed that the BJP wants to crush the Aam Aadmi Party, calling for protest march to BJP headquarters.