As pressure grows on Arvind Kejriwal to sack his aide for alleged assault on AAP MP Swati Maliwal, Bibhav Kumar was seen accompanying the Delhi chief minister at Lucknow airport late Tuesday night. Another AAP MP Sanjay Singh was also spotted alongside the chief minister.
Kejriwal arrived in Lucknow, where he will hold a joint press conference with INDIA bloc ally and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
On May 14, Sanjay Singh confirmed that Kerjiwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar "misbehaved" with Maliwal at the CM's residence.
Addressing a press conference a day after Maliwal alleged that a member of Kejriwal's personal staff "assaulted" her, Singh said AAP supremo Kejriwal will take strict action in the matter.
BJP demanded that Singh's statement should be the basis for immediate filing of an FIR by police and those guilty should be promptly dealt with.
Police, however, said they are still waiting for her to come and file a formal complaint, but added that they have not closed the DD (daily diary) entry as Maliwal had come to the police station on Monday and said she would return to lodge a case, reports PTI news agency.
During the press conference on Tuesday, Singh said it is a "highly condemnable incident" and added the Aam Aadmi Party is in solidarity with her during this hour.
"Yesterday morning, Maliwal had gone to meet Arvind Kejriwal at his residence. While she was waiting to meet him in the drawing room, Bibhav Kumar came and misbehaved with her. This is a highly condemnable incident. Kejriwal has taken cognisance of it and will take strict action in the incident," he added.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the AAP's silence regarding the incident on Monday reflects the mentality of the party.
"Sanjay Singh's statement that the party will take action in the matter is quite embarrassing..." he said.
Sachdeva said instead of deciding after violence against a woman, arrests should have been made immediately.
"Sanjay Singh claims that Arvind Kejriwal was not there at the time, but the BJP knows through sources that this entire incident occurred at the behest of and in front of Arvind Kejriwal," he alleged.