Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's tongue had to be trimmed because it grew long after he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday. Parrikar also expressed his "sympathy for Kejriwal", who has been recovering from a throat surgery in Bengaluru.

Parrikar, while addressing a gathering in Goa in the run up to the state Assembly elections, said, "In Delhi, he speaks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and here [in Goa] he speaks against me. Due to this, his tongue has grown big, and now it had to be trimmed." The former Goa chief minister also criticised the AAP for "abandoning Delhi" when the state was grappling with a health crisis. With Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also away on an official trip in Finland, the AAP government has been facing flak for not doing enough to address the spate of vector-borne illnesses plaguing the capital.

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Parrikar said, "If your Mohalla clinics were so much effective then how come 40 people died due to chikungunya. The lies of AAP are getting exposed in Delhi after the incident." He also questioned the AAP's funding and alleged that they had spent Rs 26.82 crore on advertising alone.

The defence minister also took a jibe at the controversy that had engulfed the Delhi government when a minister was sacked after being charged with rape. Parrikar said, "AAP leaders are found exploiting a woman merely to give a ration card." The defence minister told Bharatiya Janata Party workers of a joke, circulated on social networking platforms, that the Tihar superintendent has asked the lieutenant-governor to make him the Delhi chief minister as he has a "majority of AAP MLAs with him [in jail].