‘BJP running Operation Lotus to destroy our party', alleges AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is luring its MLAs to join the saffron camp

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is luring its MLAs to join the saffron camp, even as Arvind Kejriwal continues to remain in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP is trying to poach AAP MLAs. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

"Three of our Punjab MLAs held a press conference yesterday. They said that majority of AAP MLAs have received calls luring them to join the BJP. What Arvind Kejriwal had been saying has come out to be true today. 'Operation Lotus' is being run to destroy AAP and destabilise our governments in Delhi and Punjab," Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

On Wednesday, three AAP MLAs Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy, Amandeep Singh and Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina had claimed that they received calls offering them money to the BJP.

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Goldy claimed that he received a call from one Sewak Singh from an international number on Tuesday with an offer to join the BJP. He told reporters that Singh asked the MLA to join the BJP and said, "'We will give ₹20-25 crore'. I said I do not need it."

The three legislators asserted that they would not leave the party.

Kamboj alleged that the BJP was scared of Kejriwal and AAP. "Where they fail to win people's mandate, they try to buy MLAs, MP and other AAP leaders at any cost," he charged.

The allegations were made by AAP on the day its lone Lok Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joined the BJP along with party MLA Sheetal Angural.

The AAP is facing a leadership crisis after its convenor Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case. The 55-year-old Delhi chief minister has been running the government from ED custody.

BJP leader Sandeep Pathak claimed that the AAP leaders are getting calls asking them to leave the party or ‘face consequences’.

"AAP MLAs are being called. They are being told 'you will get whatever you want, and if you don't come, it will not be good for you'. The people of Delhi and Punjab voted for Kejriwal with high hopes. The BJP is doing this 'goondagardi' not with a party but with the country," Pathak said.