BJP accuses AAP of being ‘anti-Hindu’ for choosing Rajendra Pal Gautam to be its leading campaigner.

On Friday, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for including MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam in its list of prominent campaigners for the MCD elections. Gautam recently resigned as a minister following a dispute over attending a religious conversion event.

After courting controversy by participating in a religious conversion programme where Hindu deities were allegedly insulted, Gautam resigned from the AAP last month.

‘By including Gautam on his list of outstanding campaigners, Arvind Kejriwal has demonstrated his genuine character. Kejriwal’s party has been shown to be anti-Hindu. Although Gautam had offended Hindu gods, Kejriwal had made him a celebrity campaigner’ BJP lawmaker Manoj Tiwari stated.

The public will now teach them a lesson about not supporting persons who defame the Hindu religion and our deities, Tiwari continued, adding that ‘we cannot expect much from Kejriwal.’

Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, a senior in the Delhi BJP, claimed that Gautam’s selection as a star campaigner reveals the ‘anti-Hindu face’ of the chief minister and the AAP, reported the PTI news agency.

According to the news agency, Gautam’s promotion to the position of AAP’s star campaigner is evidence that Kejriwal was behind the anti-Hindu agenda promoted by the former minister.

In a press release on Friday, the AAP named Kejriwal, Gautam, and former cricketer and current Rajya Sabha member Harbhajan Singh as its leading candidates for the MCD elections on December 4. Bhagwant Mann, the deputy chief minister of Punjab, Manish Sisodia, Raghav Chadha, and ND Gupta are also on the list of 30, along with Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha.

Elections for Delhi’s 250-ward Municipal Corporation are held on December 4, and the results are tallied on December 7. In the MCD, which was divided in 2012 into corporations for the north, south, and east until being united this year, the BJP has held office for three consecutive terms.

Most observers consider the civic elections as a three-way race between  BJP,  AAP, and Congress.