The Aam Aadmi Party has named Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is behind bars in a money laundering case, and his wife Sunita Kejriwal as star campaigners for the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat.
The names of senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, both of whom are also in jail, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak are also on the list of 40 star campaigners that has been submitted by the party to the Election Commission.
Names of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal are missing from the list.
Sunita Kejriwal stepped into the limelight after her husband was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
She has addressed three digital briefings so far in which she read out Kejriwal's messages from ED custody and Tihar jail, where he is currently lodged. She also attended the opposition INDIA bloc's 'Loktantra Bachao' rally on March 31 and read out her husband's letter.
"Sunita Kejriwal is likely to visit Jharkhand to campaign for INDIA bloc ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha," an AAP source said.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in January in a money laundering case. His wife Kalpana Soren had met Sunita Kejriwal when she had come to Delhi to attend the March 31 INDIA bloc rally.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party targeted the AAP over the inclusion of Sunita Kejriwal's name in the list of its star campaigners.
"Along with corruption, nepotism is also welcome in the AAP," said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
Asked about the BJP's criticism, AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said the saffron party has nothing else left to say.
"They put an elected chief minister behind bars. His wife is not allowed to meet him in person. Aren't they ashamed? Such atrocities are being committed. Such atrocities have never been committed on a chief minister. But people are watching and they will respond to this with their votes," he asserted.
In an interaction with PTI editors here earlier this month, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj had said Sunita Kejriwal was the best person to keep the party together in the prevailing circumstances and asserted that her presence has had a "positive effect" on the cadre.
Of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, the AAP is contesting two -- Bharuch and Bhavnagar -- as part of the INDIA bloc, while its ally Congress is contesting the remaining 24.
The AAP has fielded Chaitar Vasava from Bharuch and Umesh Makwana from Bhavnagar.
The Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7. The counting of votes for all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections will be taken up on June 4.
