The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Delhi Police against Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra for posting an allegedly doctored video of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, reported PTI.
Last week, Patra had posted an edited 17-second clip of Kejriwal on Twitter, where he could be seen pointing out the “benefits” of the three new farm laws in an interview. However, Twitter had flagged the post as “manipulated media”. Later in a press conference, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia played two videos – the one Patra tweeted, and another one of Kejriwal’s entire comment, which had been edited out of context.
Meanwhile, the AAP has threatened to take similar action against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, after his media adviser Raveen Thukral posted the same clip. On Wednesday, Kejriwal warned Singh of legal action if he did not withdraw the video and apologise for it. He said it was “shocking” that the Punjab chief minister resorted to “dirty politics”.
The official handle of the AAP also tweeted the unedited version of the video, accusing Singh of being “in cahoots with the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]”.
Singh, however, refuted Kejriwal’s claims about the video being doctored, according to NDTV. “Given their track record of repeated U-turns on the issue, it was amply clear where the party’s sympathies lie on this issue,” he said in a statement. He also referred to AAP’s walkout from an all-party meeting in Punjab on Tuesday on the matter of farmers’ protest, and accused them of “double standards”.
“How can one believe them after their continued theatrics over the farm laws and the farmers’ agitation, including their walk-out from yesterday’s meeting,” he said. AAP leaders had walked out of the meeting after demanding deployment of Punjab Police personnel to protect farmers protesting at Delhi borders, according to NDTV.
The two chief minister have sparred over the farm laws in the past too, highlighted by an acrimonious exchange of words on Twitter last month.
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