Asha Devi, the mother of 23-year-old Delhi gang rape victim Nirbhaya, has denied reports that she will contest the upcoming Assembly elections on a Congress ticket against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Speaking to news agency ANI on Friday, 17 January, Devi said that she only wanted justice for her daughter and has “no interest” in politics.
“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.”
Delhi Congress Chief Subhash Chopra also denied approaching Devi to contest against Kejriwal from New Delhi. However, he added that she was welcome to join the party.
“I saw a media report that Asha Devi will contest against Arvind Kejriwal on Congress ticket. There is nothing of that sort but she is welcome if she wants to join.”Subhash Chopra, Delhi Congress Chief
The speculation first began when Congress leader Kirti Azad tweeted “welcoming” Devi to the party.
This comes after Union Minister Javadekar's allegations that the Delhi government is delaying the convicts' hanging and Kejriwal said the BJP leader is doing politics over the matter.
Javadekar had also said that all the four convicts would have been hanged by now had the AAP government acted quickly and served notices to them immediately after the Supreme Court rejected their appeal against death sentence in 2017.
Reacting to Javadekar, Kejriwal said that the Delhi government has no role in the delay.
“Why would our government try to delay, we want them hanged at the earliest. I think she is being misguided. The Delhi government barely has any role in the whole process,” he said.
The AAP also accused the BJP of "misleading" the people, saying law and order is the Centre's domain. The date of execution, as of now, stands as 1 February at 6:00 am.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)