"If Kejriwal had bowed, he would have been fighting on BJP ticket": CPI (M)'s Brinda Karat

New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): After the INDIA bloc's 'Maharally' in protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said if Arvind Kejriwal had succumbed to pressure, he might have ended up contesting elections on the Bharatiya Janata Party's ticket.
"We can say today that if Arvind Kejriwal had bowed, then today he would have been fighting on the ticket of BJP. Those people who are on the stage of opposition are not meant to be bowed, to be sold; they are to fight for people," she said.
She underscored the need to safeguard the Constitution of India and ensure its vitality, rather than allowing it to languish in the ICU.
"The purpose is to take out the Constitution of India from ICU and keep it alive," she added.
Meanwhile, when Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien was giving assurances on his party's behalf to the INDIA bloc members in Delhi's historical Ramlila Maidan, at the same time West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee's struck a different tone in Nadia, stating that her party is fighting against the Congress and accused the grand old party as well as CPI(M) of indirectly supporting the BJP.
Despite O'Brien's affirmation that "TMC is very much was, is and will be part of the INDIA alliance," Banerjee, back at home, emphasized that "Voting for Congress means voting for BJP," implying a strategic divergence from Congress.
She further claimed that the TMC is contesting against the alliance of CPM-BJP-Congress, denouncing any formal coalition formation.
"Congress is contesting the elections in alliance with the Left here. Voting for them means voting for BJP," West Bengal Chief Minister said.
INDIA alliance leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, J-K NC leader Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Jharkhand CM Champai Soren and other leaders were present at the INDIA bloc rally in Ramlila Maidan, Delhi.
Opposition leaders came together in a show of strength at the capital's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday to protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy case. (ANI)