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AAP MLAs accuse BJP of threatening to file fake cases, offering money to defect
Somnath Bharti, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, and Kuldeep Kumar said they were offered ₹20 crore each for defecting and ₹25 crore in case they convinced more to follow suit as part of attempts to topple the AAP government
Four Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (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 their government in Delhi.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said Somnath Bharti, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, and Kuldeep Kumar refused to accept the offer and added they were threatened that fake cases will be lodged against them like in the case of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
These are the latest in a series of allegations AAP and BJP have traded since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids, including at Sisodia’s residence, on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi’s excise policy 2021-22. Sisodia on Monday said he was asked to engineer a split in AAP and join the BJP if he wants the cases to be dropped against him. The BJP dismissed Sisodia’s comments as baseless.
Bharti, who addressed a joint press conference along with Singh and three other lawmakers, said a national-level leader approached and asked him to join the BJP, or else the CBI and Enforcement Directorate will lodge fake cases against him. “The leader said ₹20 crore is ready for me...that I will get ₹25 crore if I bring more MLAs [members of assembly] with me...each of the other MLAs will get ₹20 crore.”
Bharti claimed the BJP leader said that he also knows the case against Sisodia is fake when he told him so. He added the leader told him they have decided to topple the AAP government. “The leader said 25 MLAs are in touch with BJP and that different leaders have been tasked to split AAP by hook or by crook. I was shocked.”
Jha said a BJP leader personally known to him approached him saying AAP does not have any future. “He offered me ₹20 crore for leaving AAP. And I was offered ₹25 crore if I bring more MLAs. The person told me the MLAs will have to face fake cases like Sisodia. I informed the person that I am not afraid and the BJP cannot harm me.”
Kumar said a west Delhi-based BJP leader approached him while Dutt claimed a former Member of Parliament did so in his case. None of them named names.
Singh said the BJP is famous for engineering splits in Opposition parties and toppling governments. “It is adequate evidence that the MLAs are physically present and sharing their experience. It is not necessary that names of [BJP] leaders...should be exposed,” he said when asked about proof to back their claims.
There was no immediate reaction from the BJP to the fresh allegations.
