BJP offered MLAs ₹25 crore each to topple AAP govt in Punjab: Cheema - Hindustan Times
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BJP offered MLAs 25 crore each to topple AAP govt in Punjab: Cheema

Sep 14, 2022 12:45 AM IST

Punjab BJP terms allegations baseless, bundle of lies; says AAP trying to divert attention of people from its ‘failures’

Chandigarh : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to topple its government in Punjab by allegedly offering up to 25 crore each to its legislators.

The Punjab AAP on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to topple its government in Punjab by allegedly offering up to <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>25 crore each to its legislators
The Punjab AAP on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to topple its government in Punjab by allegedly offering up to 25 crore each to its legislators

Finance and taxation minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that BJP leaders and agents from Delhi and Punjab have approached at least 10 AAP legislators over phone under “Operation Lotus” and offered 25 crore to each one of them to quit the AAP and join their party. “They are offering to arrange meetings of these MLAs with ‘Babu ji’ and also promising them cabinet ministerial ranks after the BJP forms its government in the state,” the cabinet minister alleged at a press conference here without naming his party’s MLAs or the BJP leaders and agents who were trying to offer them money to switch sides.

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The Punjab BJP, however, dubbed the allegations as “baseless” and “bundle of lies” and said the AAP was trying to divert attention of people from its “failures”.

Cheema made the allegations two days after chief minister Bhagwant Mann embarked on an eight-day tour of Germany on Sunday to attract investors to the state. The AAP had swept the assembly polls in Punjab in March 2022, winning 92 of the 117 seats. The BJP has only two MLAs in the state assembly.

The minister accused the BJP of using the central investigation agencies to put pressure on the party legislators. “Wherever BJP loses, these people form their government by breaking MLAs with the help of CBI, ED and money. They did it in Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh,” he alleged.

“After unsuccessfully trying these dirty tricks in Delhi to bring down our government, they (BJP) were now attempting the same in Punjab,” Cheema said, adding the BJP had set aside 1,375 crore to break away 55 MLAs of the AAP,” Cheema said.

Asked to share the evidence, the minister said the party was getting it examined legally and would make it public at appropriate time. “We will initiate legal action in the matter,” he said on being asked whether the state government would register an FIR. The minister claimed that the BJP was afraid of (AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind) Kejriwal and its only aim was to stop him by any means.

AAP MLAs Sheetal Anugral, Raman Arora, Labh Singh Ughoke and Manjit Bilaspur were among the party leaders present at the press conference.

All is not well in AAP: BJP

Reacting to the allegations, the Punjab BJP said the AAP was trying to shift the blame for its own rebellion on the saffron party. All was not well in the AAP and the ruling party is trying to put the blame on the BJP,” said state BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma, dismissing the allegations as baseless.

Sharma said the rivalry between Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal has now come out in the open. In order to divert the public attention from the war within, the AAP was trying to resort to such gimmicks.

The BJP leader said the AAP was collapsing under its own weight as the party MLAs were fed up with interference by Delhi leaders, including Kejriwal and Raghav Chadha.

“Set your own house in order and stop Kejriwal’s undue interference and better tame Raghav Chadha,” Sharma advised the AAP leaders.

State BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said the allegations are the manifestation of frustration of the AAP which was facing heat on allegations of corruption. “Cheema is upset because the probe into the Delhi excise policy is set to reach Punjab as the same policy has been implemented here as well,” Sharma said.

Classic example of ‘crying wolf’, says Warring

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Tuesday ridiculed the AAP government’s allegations that the BJP was trying to poach its MLAs.

Warring said the BJP is no doubt capable of doing that but in this case, the AAP appears to be trying to divert public attention from its own failures. “Or maybe there is some revolt brewing within the AAP that MLAs are feeling restless and the party leadership is trying to pre-empt any such move,” he said in a statement.

He termed it a “classic example of crying wolf”, pointing out that the AAP has been levelling such periodical allegations now and then. Warring said the AAP can lodge a complaint with the police as this is a criminal offence when somebody is trying to offer bribe to someone.

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