Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is campaigning while on an interim bail in the Delhi liquor policy case, on Sunday said that he would not have to go back to jail if voters pick his party in the Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik on Saturday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party will not be able to win the Assembly elections in Odisha in the next 10 years. The Lok Sabha elections and the state polls in Odisha are taking place simultaneously.

Here is a look at today’s top developments:

  • Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal on Sunday urged voters to vote for his Aam Aadmi Party in the general election to protect him from going back to jail, India Today reported. “I have to go back to jail after 20 days,” he said at a campaign event in the national capital. “If you choose jhadu [a broom, which is the Aam Aadmi Party’s electoral symbol], I won’t have to go back to jail”. Kejriwal alleged that he was sent to jail because the “BJP does not want” the work of the people of Delhi to get done, PTI reported. The Aam Aadmi Party chief was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 for his alleged role in the Delhi liquor policy case. He was released from Delhi’s Tihar jail on Friday on an interim bail granted by the Supreme Court. The court has directed Kejriwal to surrender on June 2, a day after the polling in the Lok Sabha elections is supposed to conclude.
  • Kailasho Saini, a two-time former MP from Haryana’s Kurukshetra, quit the Bharatiya Janata Party and joined the Congress on Sunday. Saini, who was elected from Kurukshetra in 1998 and 1999 on a Indian National Lok Dal ticket, announced her support for the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party’s joint candidate from the seat, The Indian Express reported.
  • Odisha Chief Minister Patnaik on Saturday claimed that the rival Bharatiya Janata Party will not be able to win the Assembly elections in the state in the next 10 years, PTI reported. Patnaik, who has been the chief minister since 2000, claimed that his Biju Janata Dal will secure a sixth consecutive term. The Assembly polls in Odisha will take place in four phases starting May 13. Polling for the state polls and the Lok Sabha elections are taking place simultaneously. Patnaik was reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims at a rally on Saturday that the swearing-in ceremony of a “BJP chief minister” will be held on June 10. “Nothing will happen on June 10,” Patnaik said. “BJP will not be able to win the hearts of the people in the next 10 years, forget about June 10.” In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal had won 12 of the 21 parliamentary seats in Odisha. While the BJP had won eight seats, Congress won one.

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