In Arvind Kejriwal’s Absence, Wife Becomes Face Of AAP’s Lok Sabha Campaign

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita – who entered the political battleground with fiery speeches at INDIA bloc’s rallies last month – will now lead the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi and other states.

Sunita Kejriwal will hold a mega roadshow in the national capital today in support of AAP’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar. “In protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, his wife Sunita Kejriwal will campaign to seek blessings for him and to seek votes for AAP candidates. She will seek blessings for him from the people of Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana,” Delhi Minister Atishi said.

Ms Kejriwal is gradually assuming a bigger role in the party to give a boost to the AAP’s campaigning, which has been affected by the Chief Minister’s arrest in March, party sources said.

AAP Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that Ms Kejriwal is the best person to keep the party together in the prevailing circumstances and asserted that her presence has had a “positive effect” on the party workers.

Ms Kejriwal last month took part in the INDIA bloc’s mega rallies in Delhi and Ranchi, which saw the opposition camp launch a fierce attack on the BJP for allegedly misusing central agencies to harass opposition-ruled states.

She has so far held three digital media briefings mainly focused on communicating Arvind Kejriwal’s messages to the people. 

Mr Kejriwal was arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the liquor policy scam. He remains the Chief Minister even after his arrest with the AAP asserting no law stops him from running the government from jail.

Sunita Kejriwal is a former Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer who served in the income tax department for 22 years. She met Arvind Kejriwal during a training programme in Bhopal. She is from the 1994 batch, while Arvind Kejriwal is a 1995-batch officer.

She took voluntary retirement in 2016. Her last posting was at the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Delhi where she served as the income tax commissioner.