All lawmakers with Kejriwal, attempts to topple govt have failed: AAP

An AAP functionary earlier claimed some lawmakers were unreachable ahead of a meeting of the legislators

All Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmakers are with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal till their last breath and the attempts to topple their government have failed, Delhi’s ruling party said after a meeting of its legislators on Thursday following claims earlier that some of them were “unreachable”.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal with party MLAs at Rajghat in New Delhi. (PTI)

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempts to poach AAP lawmakers have failed. “Altogether 53 out of 62 MLAs [members of legislative assembly] were present at the meeting. [Deputy chief minister] Manish Sisodia is in Himachal Pradesh and Speaker Ram Niwas Goel is outside the country. CM [the chief minister] spoke to other MLAs over the phone and everyone said they are with Kejriwal till their last breath,” said Bharadwaj.

Bharadwaj claimed the BJP wanted to poach 40 of AAP’s 62 lawmakers in the 70-member Delhi assembly.

In a tweet, Kejriwal echoed Bharadwaj and said no lawmaker is detecting and the AAP government is stable. “They wanted to break 40 MLAs by giving each of them ₹20 crore. They have earmarked ₹800 crore for toppling the Delhi government. The country wants to know from where the ₹800 crore came and where has it been kept,” tweeted Kejriwal, who paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi along with his MLAs at Raj Ghat after the meeting.

Fifty-four AAP lawmakers including Kejriwal were present at the meeting. Seven others are out of Delhi for personal or party-related activities and could not attend the meeting while Satyendar Jain is in jail.

An AAP functionary earlier claimed some lawmakers were unreachable ahead of the meeting without naming anyone and said the party was constantly trying to reach out to them.

On Wednesday, four AAP lawmakers Somnath Bharti, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, and Kuldeep Kumar accused the BJP of offering each of them ₹20 crore for defecting and ₹25 crore in case they convinced more legislators to follow suit as part of attempts to topple the government in Delhi. The BJP denied the allegations and said AAP was simply trying to divert attention from the alleged excise scam.

The four AAP legislators said they refused to accept the BJP’s offer and that they were threatened that “fake cases” will be lodged against them like in the case of Sisodia.

The AAP and BJP have traded allegations since the Central Bureau of Investigation’s raid at Sisodia’s residence on Friday in connection with the probe into alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

The BJP has accused the Delhi government of financial irregularities and quid pro quo. The AAP has maintained it was being targeted to counter its expanding national footprint.

The AAP government has called a special session of the Delhi assembly on Friday.

BJP leader Parvesh Sahib Singh hit back saying the AAP has no answer to the questions they have raised regarding the excise policy. “They are just trying to divert people’s attention by saying the MLAs are missing. They did not tell the names of BJP leaders who approached their MLAs and now they are not even telling the names of MLAs who are missing. They should tell the name, BJP workers will find them and send them safely to you.”

BJP lawmaker Manoj Tiwari said Kejriwal is silent on the excise policy. “Your silence makes it clear that you have siphoned off the money of the taxpayers. Kejriwal should answer why the AAP government withdrew the excise policy as soon as the CBI probe started. No one is interested in AAP’s hackneyed script.”