New Delhi: The political tussle between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over raids on Manish Sisodia’s residence got more dramatic on Thursday.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called an ‘emergency’ meeting of the party legislators at his residence and then displayed show of strength by taking them to Rajghat, the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.
Training guns at the BJP, Kejriwal accused the saffron party of trying to poach its more than 40 MLAs to topple AAP govt in Delhi.
“They have kept Rs 800 crore to topple our government. Every MLA is being offered Rs 20 crore to switch sides. They want to break away at least 40 MLAs,” CM Kejriwal alleged.
दिल्ली सरकार गिराने के लिए इन्होंने 800 करोड़ रखे हैं- प्रति MLA 20 करोड़, 40 MLA तोड़ना चाहते हैं
देश जानना चाहता है। ये 800 करोड़ किसके हैं, कहाँ रखे हैं?
हमारा कोई MLA नहीं टूट रहा। सरकार स्थिर है।दिल्ली में चल रहे सभी अच्छे काम जारी रहेंगे
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 25, 2022
In the same breadth, he also asserted that AAP MLAs are united and won’t get swayed away by BJP’s machinations.
AAP’s show of strength
The show of strength by AAP chief came after reports that several AAP MLAs have gone missing, lending credence to ‘cracks’ within the party. However, AAP spokesperson Sourabh Bhardwaj was quick to punch holes in the chatter. He informed that more than 50 MLAs took part in the meeting at Kejriwal’s residence while those who were physically absent connected via phone and pledged their support to Kejriwal.
“At least 12 MLAs have said that they got offers from BJP for crossing over,” he told media persons.
AAP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ charge on BJP
The CBI raids on Delhi Deputy CM has led to bitter & heated exchanges between AAP & opposition BJP. The AAP has alleged that the saffron party is making a desperate attempt to buy out its MLAs and is making an offer of at least Rs 20 crore to each of them.
The first allegations were raised by Manish Sisodia who claimed that he had audio recordings of the phone call via which he ‘was offered to cross over’ and get rewarded with the CM post.
BJP outrightly rejected the charges and also accused AAP of deflecting attention from corruption in Delhi’s excise policy. It questioned the silence of Arvind Kejriwal over graft in handing over liquor licences to private operators while raising hue and cry over CBI raids, meant to unearth the trail of illegal money.
“Your silence makes us believe that huge amount of money has been siphoned off”, said BJP MP Manoj Tiwari.
Delhi Assembly has a total of 70 MLA, out of which AAP enjoys a whopping strength of 62 while BJP has just 8 legislators. For breaking away AAP, at least 40 MLAs will be required to abandon the party, else action will follow under anti-defection law.
