Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has come up with a defence for his hugging scam-tainted Lalu Prasad Yadav. He said he was pulled into a hug, indicating he didn’t want to hug him.“In Nitish Kumar's swearing in Lalu Yadav was on the stage. He shook hand and pulled me and hugged me. And held my hand and raised it,” he said at AAP National Council meeting here.He said he was against Lalu’s corruption and that his sons became ministers in the new dispensation.“It was projected and questions were asked. We have not formed an alliance. We are against his record of corruption and we'll always oppose it. We are against his dynasty politics. His two sons are ministers. We are against that too,” he added.“I am happy that questions are being asked. Questions are being asked because people have hope, because they think we are different. Nobody asks questions when other leader hug Lalu JI, it's good for us,” he added.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal drew flak for hugging RJD chief Lalu Prasad during the oath-taking ceremony of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with his former colleague and Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav saying that it was a “shameful” act.Yadav, who was expelled from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said it was not mere hugging, but the defeat of ideals to form a bloc against the BJP.“Political capital of the movement sold to symbols of political corruption. Ashamed!”“This is the same logic which Congress supporters used to use against the Lokpal movement. They would say that they (the Congress) are corrupt, but the Lokpal movement should not be supported as it would help the BJP. Kejriwal used the same logic, but shamed those strove against corruption,” Yadav said in a post on his Facebook page.LJP leader Chirag Paswan said he was surprised to see Kejriwal hugging Prasad. “You cannot give Lalu ji a benefit of doubt as he has been convicted in a corruption case. Kejriwal is known for his anti-corruption stand and his hugging Lalu ji indicates whether he has stopped his war against corruption.”BJP’s Sambit Patra too attacked Kejriwal saying the AAP chief used to hold one press conference after another in which he would name Prasad in his list of most corrupt politicians.“Yesterday, Arvind Kejriwal hugged the ideology which he had been opposing,” Patra said.Kejriwal was criticised even on social media with many even posting a tweet of his that wrote in October 2013.“Laloo made crores in fodder scam. But no order for recovery of that money. Just 25 lakh fine and few years in jail. A sweet deal,” the Delhi CM had tweeted.Hitting back, Kejriwal supporters claimed that it was Prasad who forcibly hugged him despite his reluctance and defended the friendly gesture between the two saying that it was nothing but a “political courtesy”.Meanwhile, Kejriwal added that the AAP has not set its eyes on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but is confident of taking power in Punjab in 2017.Punjab, which elected the AAP's all four Lok Sabha members in 2014 and where assembly elections are due in two years, would be an exception. "All indications are that you (are) going to get the same opportunity in Punjab (as in Delhi)," he said.