The fact that most BJP supporters are not exactly fond of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal is no secret. But on Thursday, Kejriwal landed in an awkward situation at a government function in Delhi as a group of BJP supporters began coughing as the chief minister started to speak.
However, Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari intervened and told the miscreants to be quiet; Gadkari was joined by his cabinet colleague Environment Minister Dr Harshvardhan, who also appealed to the crowd.
Kejriwal had been suffering from chronic cough for decades and had undergone surgery on his tongue at a Bengaluru hospital in 2016 for the ailment.
Kejriwal was speaking at an event organised at Vigyan Bhawan by the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the Delhi Jal Board on new plans to clean the Yamuna. As Kejriwal started his speech, he was distracted twice by people in the front row coughing. He appealed to the audience to calm down, but to no avail. However, Kejriwal was saved from further embarrassment by Gadkari and Harshvardhan. Gadkari asked Kejriwal to continue his speech and told the audience to be quiet, reminding them it was a government event.
Kejriwal's coughing ailment had been targeted by BJP leaders previously. In 2016, video clips surfaced of Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu poking fun at Kejriwal's cough. Sidhu was then a BJP leader.
In 2016, then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, who is now Goa Chief Minister, claimed Kejriwal's tongue had to be operated upon as it had become “too long” by criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
