AAP, BJP trade barbs after man who had fired in air at Shaheen Bagh's anti-CAA protest site joins saffron party, later expelled

New Delhi: The AAP and the BJP on Wednesday sparred over alleged Shaheen Bagh shooter Kapil Gujjar joining the saffron party. Gujjar on Wednesday joined the BJP but soon after his induction, his membership was cancelled by the party. “Please note @BJP4India has zero-tolerance towards corruption and any nuisance, identity of this person was not in the knowledge of @BJP4UP’s Ghaziabad unit..now action taken by @swatantrabjp Ji and joining of Kapil Gujjar stands cancelled! @BJP4Delhi @ManojTiwariMP @adeshguptabjp,” BJP leader Neelakant Bakshi tweeted. The AAP hit out at the saffron party for inducting Gujjar, saying this exposed the BJP’s plan of starting riots in the National Capital. Addressing a press conference, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “Kapil Gujjar who opened fire at Shaheen Bagh protesters joined the BJP and exposed BJP’s plan of riots in Delhi.” He further claimed that right from the script to the characters, everything was part of the BJP’s plan to spread hatred. “Seventy-two hours before the (Delhi) election, Delhi Police alleged that Kapil was associated with the AAP, and BJP chief JP Nadda said that he is a terrorist. Today the same BJP is welcoming this person,” Bhardwaj said. “Today on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party, I want to ask the BJP that why a terrorist is joining their party,” he said. In a statement, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “We said on the day Kapil Gujjar fired shots at Shaheen Bagh that he is an Aam Aadmi Party supporter and today again we reiterate that he is an AAP supporter.” “Kapil Gurjar and his AAP leader Sanjay Singh wanted to create a political sensation but they knew it was impossible to manage his induction in Delhi BJP so they silently made him join BJP in Ghaziabad and thereafter created a media drama over it,” he claimed. Ghaziabad BJP instantly cancelled the membership of Gujjar, he added. In February this year, Gujjar had fired twice in the air at Shaheen Bagh where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was underway. Shaheen Bagh became the epicentre of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as women with young children staged a sit-in protest there for over three months. The Shaheen Bagh protest was called off in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after citizenship law supporters and protesters clashed with each other in the area, leaving 53 people dead.