Bibhav Kumar, the controversial Personal Assistant of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in the eye of the storm in the Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal assault case, was present with the AAP leaders on their campaign tour in Lucknow on Thursday.

Kejriwal refused to give any answer on the Maliwal assault issue.

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As the AAP convener entered the venue for his press conference with his INDI Alliance partner Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, reporters attempted to question him on the alleged assault on Maliwal. The AAP convenor refused to answer any questions and passed the mike to Akhilesh Yadav.

Yadav brushed aside the question, stating, “There are other issues that are more important than this.”

Now, it was left to AAP leader and a trusted Kejriwal lieutenant Sanjay Singh to defend his party.

Singh said that politics should not be done on the issue of Swati Maliwal’s assault and questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Prajwal Revanna case (the JD-S MP involved in sex tape scandal in Karnataka).

“….Prajwal Revanna raped thousands of women but PM Modi was asking for votes for Prajwal Revanna. When our wrestlers were protesting at Jantar Mantar, Swati Maliwal, the DCW chief, was beaten up by police… PM Modi remained silent on these issues. AAP is our family and has given a clear statement. BJP and PM Modi should answer all these issues that I mentioned… Politics should not be done on Swati Maliwal’s issue…,” Singh said.

Earlier this week, Kejriwal’s PA allegedly misbehaved with Maliwal at the CM’s residence. Although Maliwal has not publicly commented on the issue, she made a PCR call to the police but refrained from lodging any FIR.

The AAP acknowledged that Kumar misbehaved with Maliwal and vowed strict action against him.

Contrary to the AAP’s assurance, Kumar accompanied Kejriwal and Singh during their visit to the Uttar Pradesh capital for the poll campaign.

As the picture of Kumar accompanying Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh went viral on social media, the BJP accused the Delhi CM of protecting him.

“72 hours… No FIR on Bibhav Kumar instead Kejriwal is protecting him! Roaming around with him. It is clear – attack on Swati Maliwal was done at the behest of Kejriwal himself, ” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla wrote on ‘X’.

Calling the AAP “Anti-women anarchist party”, the BJP leader alleged that Maliwal was being pressured to remain silent.

“Sheesh Mahal is Apradh Mahal & just like Draupadi cheerharan – a woman Rajya Sabha MP was subjected to violence, assault. Now she is being pressured to keep Silent or change her story as is evident from statements of Naveen Jaihind & Nitin Tyagi of AAP hence she hasn’t approached the police yet True face of AAP – Anti women anarchist party,” the BJP leader added.