Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday presented a vote of confidence in the assembly to demonstrate his political strength, addressing rumours of his potential arrest and the Aam Aadmi Party’s claim that the BJP is attempting to destabilise his government.
Kejriwal has been directed to appear in a Delhi court tomorrow in response to a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his failure to attend five summonses related to an excise policy case. The sixth summons was issued on Wednesday.
The motion will be discussed in the Assembly on Saturday in the presence of ruling Aam Aadmi Party MLAs and Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri since seven of the eight BJP legislators were suspended for the remainder of the session for allegedly interfering during the Lt Governor’s address on Thursday.
This is the second time that the Kejriwal government has sought a trust vote in the 70-member Assembly. In the current Assembly, the AAP has 62 MLAs, while the BJP has eight.
Tabling the confidence motion on Friday, the Chief Minister said, “Two MLAs had come to me saying they were contacted by BJP members offering them Rs 25 crore each. They were told that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would be arrested and the government would be toppled.” “They were also told that the BJP is in touch with 21 MLAs. They have made multiple attempts to approach our MLAs under ‘Operation Lotus’. Even this time, our MLAs refused to budge.” Kejriwal said the AAP checked with all its MLAs after these claims, and it was found that seven of its legislators were approached, but none of them accepted the offer.
He claimed that the Delhi excise policy case was false. Kejriwal’s trusted aides, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, are in jail in connection with the excise policy case.
