In a day of trouble, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal faced public anger at Azadpur Mandi and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for opposing the Narendra Modi government's demonetisation move against black money.

HEAVY CRITICISM

Ridicule flowed online after extremely personal allegations levelled against him by ex-colleague Kapil Bajaj in a blog post. And media baron and Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra sued him for defamation. On Thursday, mysteriously, the hashtags #AlooKejriwal & #AlooMaloo started trending on Twitter. Unknown to many, these are in reference to charges by former business journalist Kapil Bajaj in his blog that Kejriwal was having an affair in 2008-09 with a colleague 16 years younger to him.

This was during his days as an RTI campaigner. AAP leader Alka Lamba told Mail Today, "I don't want to even comment on this. It is the lowest level of politics that BJP is doing. Nothing can be below this. It is only an attempt to take attention away from the real issue that is the cash crisis and we will keep struggling for the common man."

KAPIL BAJAJ'S ALLEGATIONS

On October 5, 2016, Bajaj wrote a blog titled, 'My Stint with Kejriwal: Wising up to Democracy and Social Activism', which created an uproar in political circles. He alleged that Kejriwal had an affair with a colleague 16 years younger. He shadow-named this character 'Shilpa'. Bajaj claimed he came to know of this while working with Kejriwal in Thiruvananthapuram during a study of local gram sabhas.

He wrote that this woman had now been appointed the chief of a "powerful statutory body in Delhi". In-charge of the BJP's information and technology cell Amit Malviya also tweeted: "Kapil Bajaj, who wrote about Arvind Kejriwal's sexual escapades, stands by his blog. Will media wake up? #AlooMaloo" BJP's Vijender Gupta raised this issue in the Delhi Assembly a few days back and was promptly marshaled out, he claimed. He tweeted: "AAP MLAs raised hue and cry aftr I raised issue of Kejriwal's sex escapades in House. CM left & the House was adjourned." This attracted over 2,000 retweets. Many used them to counter the sarcastic meme on demonetisation, 'Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai', referring to a anonymous scribble on a brand new Rs 2,000 note.

HECKLED

One said "Forget #sonamguptabewafahai, who is Shilpa? #demonetisation #Aloo-Maloo #arvindkejriwal" Meanwhile, Kejriwal was booed when he went to RBI on Parliament street to enquire about the fallout of demonetisation. At Azadpur Mandi, where he held a joint rally with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, people started shouting "Modi, Modi".

They heckled him before the police escorted him out of the scene. Also, Subhash Chandra moved a city court on Thursday seeking prosecution of Kejriwal for defaming him by levelling "false allegations" in the wake of demonitisation. Chandra, chairman Essel group, alleged Kejriwal, while addressing a conference on Nov 11, made "false, fabricated and defamatory allegations" against him. The complaint, likely to come up for hearing on Friday, sought his prosecution under Section 500 (defamation) of IPC. The complaint claimed that Kejriwal defamed Chandra by making inherently defamatory statements. In all, a forgettable day for the Delhi CM.



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