New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday administered an oath of allegiance to his party’s 48 victorious candidates from recently held Municipal Corporation elections and demanded they promise to not desert the party.
“Be vigilant, be honest, be brave. Also be sure to secretly record any offers made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to switch sides. They may offer you a lot of money, even up to Rs100 million (Dh5.73 million) but if you take this, you will regret it, pay a heavy price all your life,” Kejriwal said in a 10-minute-long video posted on YouTube.
Addressing his party Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) Members of Legislative Assembly in Delhi, Kejriwal said “if they accepted to be bought over by BJP, God will squeeze out a bigger amount from those who will betray the party.”
“We had no aukat (standing) but then a miracle happened and we became Chief Minister, Members of Legislative Assembly of Delhi. If you betray this sacred movement then it will be akin to you ditching the God. If you abandon this movement, party and the aspiration of the people then you will never be happy in life,” he said.
The Delhi CM went on to administer an oath of allegiance to his leaders.
“We will take oath from our heart. Main apne Bhagwan ko hazir nazir maan ke shapat leta hoon ki main kabhi bhi apni pavitra party aur iss andolan ko dhoka nahi dunga (I swear in the name of God that I will never abandon my sacred party and will never betray the movement),” he said in the video.
The oath was administered amid reports that several AAP leaders were planning to quit the party.
Trying to recover from a crushing defeat in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election, Kejriwal said “a new party winning 48 wards is not a bad start”.
The loss to AAP had come only months after BJP won all seven parliament seats in Delhi in a Narendra Modi wave in the 2014 general election.
On Thursday, Kejriwal had called a meeting of all party MLAs and councillors after his party’s dismal performance in the MCD elections.
In the meeting, he cautioned his party members against greed. “In other parties, you have to buy tickets, none of you here had to buy tickets. If you want, you can stay honest,” he said.
He asked the newly elected councillors to raise their voice against corruption.
“Don’t be afraid of anyone. They may put you in jail too, but you keep exposing corruption wherever you see,” he said.
Explaining the dos and dont’s for his councillors and MLAs, Kejriwal urged them to always keep their phones on recording mode.
“Keep your phones on recording mode so that if someone tries to lure you, we can put it out in front of people,” he said.
