Nirbhaya's Mother Asha Devi May Contest Against Arvind Kejriwal On Congress Ticket: Sources

Asha Devi, Mother of 2012 Delhi Gang-Rape victim Nirbhaya, may contest 2020 Delhi Assembly elections against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi. According to sources, the Congress is in talks with Nirbhaya’s mother and trying to convince her to become the party’s candidate against Kejriwal. Reacting to the news, chairman of Delhi Congress campaign committee Kirti Azad wrote on Twitter: "Asha Devi ji you’re welcome".

However, Asha Devi refuted such reports saying, "I have no interest in politics. I have not spoken to anyone in Congress. I only want justice for my daughter and execution of the convicts."

The development has come on the day when Asha Devi, in a veiled attack on AAP and the BJP, said that those who took to streets in 2012 over the incident were now playing with her daughter's death. "Those who attacked my daughter are being given a thousand options, but we have no rights? Till now, I never talked about politics, but now I want to say that those people who held protests on streets in 2012, today the same people are only playing with my daughter's death for political gains," she had said earlier in the day.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday rejected allegations that his government deliberately delayed the execution of Nirbhaya convicts. “Delhi government has no role in delaying their hanging,â€Â Kejriwal said while addressing media. In fact, he countered the claims saying, “Why would Delhi government try to delay anything related to this case? We want the convicts to be hanged at the earliest."

He also said that, “All the work that was under Delhi government was completed by us within hours. We never delayed any work related to this case. Delhi government hardly has an any role in it. We want convicts to be hanged at the earliest. He also alleged that the BJP was politicising the issue.

Its BJP Vs AAP Over Delay In Hanging Of Convicts In Nirbhaya Case

On Thursday, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said, give us Delhi Police and law-and-order responsibility for two days and we will hang Nirbhaya convicts." The war of words erupted after Union minister Prakash Javadekar blamed the AAP government's "negligence" for the "delay" in the hanging of the four convicts, saying it took more than two-and-a-half years for the Arvind Kejriwal government to give notice to the rapists after the Supreme Court rejected their appeal against the death sentence in 2017.