Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses at a rally against demonetisation of currency notes, at Meerut on Thursday.PTI Photo Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses at a rally against demonetisation of currency notes, at Meerut on Thursday.PTI Photo

‘Vote for anyone but the BJP’ remained the rallying point for Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal Thursday in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh as he kicked off the first of his six rallies across the country against demonetisation. Kejriwal reiterated his allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘favouring his friends’ by ‘waiving off their loans’ and helping them stash away black money.

“Modi ji became PM because of UP. You gave 73 out of 80 seats. Ab ek ek minute ka badla lena hai line mein lagne ke. Koi BJP wala vote maangne aaye unse keh do Ambani, Adani se vote maango,” Kejriwal said.

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“Today I have not come to ask for votes. If I wanted votes I would have gone to Punjab or Goa from where our party is contesting. I have come to beg you to save this country. I will say each word with full responsibility and with full evidence because I know Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be listening to me….If I say anything wrong they will file 10 cases against me. So far there are 24 cases lodged against me. Inke case se nahi darta main,” Kejriwal told a gathering dominantly of party workers and sympathisers from Meerut and neighbouring districts.

He revisited his allegations against Modi favouring liquor baron Vijay Mallya by ‘helping him leave the country’ and ‘waiving off his loans’, of alerting Modi’s ‘friends’ in advance of the demonetisation decision to be able to stash away black money.

“A few days back Parliament passed a law that if you have black money and declare it, 50 per cent will be taken away and you will not be asked to explain how you got it. If you took a bribe or earned the money through corrupt means or by selling drugs no questions will be asked. Sab 50-50 kar lenge. You (BJP) should have done this right on day one.then why is the common man standing in queues?” Kejriwal asked. “Rs 6 to 7 lakh crore has been deposited in the banks since demonetisation but not one paisa is black money. Modi ji has waived bad loans worth Rs. 1.14 lakh crore in two years. The Supreme Court is asking for a list of those people but he refuses to give it. If you do not pay back your loans in time, banks send bouncers to take away your car or seal your houses but I want to ask how many times did Modi ji send bouncers to their houses whose loans he waived off? If they (BJP) really wanted to curb black money they would have jailed 638 people who figured in the list of Swiss account holders. Yeh toh dhokha ho gaya hamare saath. Media says I say things just like that but I have evidence.”

Even as Kejriwal reiterated the allegations he has levelled since the announcement of demonetisation, the Delhi CM this time told the gathering to make video recordings of his speech and to circulate it in their neighbourhood and on social media. “TV reporters achhe log hote hain par unki majboori hai aur unke maalikon ki bhi majboori hai. The papers that I will show you here today they will not be able to show those. So I request you to record my speech and circulate it in your neighbourhood. Desh ki junta netaon aur media se badi hai,” he told the audience twice over.

Kejriwal will address two more rallies in UP – Varanasi and Lucknow – on December 7 and 18, respectively and move on to BJP-governed state capitals Bhopal (December 20), Ranchi (Dec 22) and Jaipur (Dec 23).

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