'Arvind Kejriwal nikamma MLA hai': Sandeep Dikshit on former Delhi CM

Arvind Kejriwal, national convener of AAP and former Chief Minister, Delhi. (File photo: AP)

Sandeep Dikshit, Congress leader and the party's candidate from the New Delhi seat for the coming Delhi elections, has termed former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "a nikamma (useless) MLA" and an "autocrat from the days of the Anna Hazare movement".

Dikshit, who will take on Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat which the AAP convener has won thrice in a row, said the voters of the constituency see him as a useless MLA. "Yahan ka jo voter hai...usko as a vidhayak..usko bilkul nikamma vidhayak dikhta hai (The voters here see him as a useless MLA)," Dikshit said in an interview with Smita Prakash, reported news agency ANI.

EP-254 with Sandeep Dikshit premieres today at 5 PM IST | Promo" ..." Congress' Sandeep Dikshit Tears into Arvind Kejriwal#SmitaPrakash #ANIPodcast #Kejriwal #SandeepDikshit #AAP #Congress #DelhiWatch Full Episode Here: pic.twitter.com/8lSumPuCSb
ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2025

A short video of the interaction shared by ANI also showed Dikshit refer to his late mother Sheila Dikshit, former Chief Minister of Delhi, and the "personal attack" launched by Kejriwal against her. "It was absolutely a personal attack...There was nothing political about it," Dikshit said referring to the allegations the AAP chief had levelled against his mother during Anna Hazare's anti-corruption Lokpal movement.

Responding to a query on his own allegations against Kejriwal where he referred to the former Delhi CM as a "dhongi" and that the controversy over the renovation of his official bungalow had shattered Kejriwal's image as a "common man", Dikshit said he always knew that Kejriwal wasn't who he pretended to be in public.

"He is not an individual who will never live in a bungalow, or buy a car or say that he will take all his decisions after consulting the people of Delhi. I always knew it.. When I spoke to his friends during the Lokpal movement.. He is an autocrat," Dikshit said in a short clip of the interaction shared by the news agency.

Dikshit, who is scheduled to file his nomination from the Delhi seat on Thursday, remains optimistic about the party's prospects and claims there has been a positive shift in voter sentiment in favour of the Congress.

Dikshit also responded to the recent approval by the Ministry of Home Affairs for a money laundering case against Kejriwal and said that it was expected given the ongoing rumours and the financial irregularities observed during elections in Goa and Punjab.

"We had seen significant financial activity by the Aam Aadmi Party on the ground," he said, referring to the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India that exposed financial misconduct within Kejriwal's party.

Voting for the Delhi Assembly election will be held on February 5 and the counting of votes on February 8.