Islamabad: As the national capital of India has gone to polls in the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, former Pakistani minister Fawad Chaudhry has once again come out in support of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who cast his vote along with family on Saturday. Notably, Chaudhry had supported Kejriwal after he received bail in the money laundering case linked to alleged liquor excise policy.
"May peace and harmony defeat forces of hate and extremism," wrote Chaudhry on social media platform X, in a show of support for Kejriwal and a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When Kejriwal got interim bail on the orders of the Supreme Court on May 10, Chaudhry had termed the development as “another battle” loss for the Indian PM.
In a strong response, the Delhi Chief Minister told Chaudhry that India was fully capable of solving its own problems and that the Pakistani leader's tweet of support was not needed. "The situation in Pakistan is very bad right now. You should take care of your own country," Kejriwal wrote.
People in the national capital began voting on Saturday in the sixth phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections, with one lakh polling personnel have been deployed for the smooth conduct of polling. Amid scorching heatwave conditions prevailing in north India, several steps have been taken to protect people from extreme weather, from punk polling stations to facilities like ACs, drinking water, ramps, wheelchairs and more.
Fawad Chaudhry's support to Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi
Reacting to Kejriwal's bail earlier this month, Chaudhry said the turn of events that took place in New Delhi on May 10 was “good news for moderate India”. The Delhi CM walked out of Tihar after spending over 50 days, following the top court granting him interim bail for election campaigning in the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections. He was ordered to surrender on June 2.
“Modi G Lost another battle #Kejriwal released... good news for moderate India,” the Pakistani leader posted on X.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 this year in connection with the money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor scam. While granting interim bail, the SC imposed some strict conditions including sanctions from visiting the Office of the Chief Minister or the Delhi Secretariat and not contacting the witnesses.
Before this, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader heaped praise on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi earlier over his party's promise of conducting a wealth redistribution survey, if it was voted to power. He compared Rahul Gandhi with his great-grandfather and India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and said "both were socialists".
His praise for Rahul Gandhi came days after the former Pakistan minister shared a video of the Congress MP, in which he was seen targeting the BJP-led Centre over the 'pran pratishtha' of Ayodhya's Ram Temple. PM Narendra Modi reacted to Fawad Chaudhry's praise for Rahul Gandhi and said that the “partnership” between Pakistan and Congress has been exposed.
"Look at the coincidence, today Congress is getting weak in India. The funny thing is that here Congress is dying and there Pakistan is crying. Now Pakistani leaders are praying for Congress. Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and we already know that Congress is a fan of Pakistan. This partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed," PM Modi said while addressing a public rally in Gujarat's Anand.
(with inputs from ANI)
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