BJP MPs urge Delhi LG to probe AAP’s poaching allegations

Bharatiya Janata Party MPs have urged Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of purported “attempts by the BJP to buy AAP MLAs” made by CM Arvind Kejriwal, his Deputy Manish Sisodia and other leaders. This comes after a number of AAP leaders, including party supremo Kejriwal, alleged that the BJP wanted to “buy” 40 of their MLAs to destabilise the government.

The BJP MPs, on Tuesday, wrote in a letter, “You may be aware of the malicious, false, misleading and diversionary statements issued in the public domain by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Dy. CM Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders to the effect that AAP MLAs had got calls from the BJP where they were offered huge amounts of cash to transfer their allegiance to the BJP.” 

Mentioning Sisodia’s allegations that he had received a call asking him to join the BJP in lieu of dropping criminal proceedings against him for charges of corruption and being made the chief minister, the leaders said that this was an “obvious attempt” to divert people’s attention from their “obvious involvement in the liquor and classroom scam”. The BJP MPs demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations by the AAP leaders by a “competent authority”. “We, the MPs of the BJP, are obviously aggrieved by these grossly defamatory and unsubstantiated allegations. Accordingly, we request you to get a comprehensive inquiry conducted into the matter by a competent authority so that the truth can come out for the people of Delhi and India to see,” they wrote. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier said some of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs have approached him, alleging that they have been threatened and offered bribes to break the party. 

The Kejriwal-led Delhi government also called a special session of the Assembly amid a political row over claims that the BJP is trying to lure his party’s MLAs. Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, previously tweeted that the BJP is offering to close all CBI and ED cases against him if he leaves the AAP and joins the BJP. He said that the BJP had even offered him the CM post. He also said that he would never join the corrupt conspirators. 

The BJP had declined any such offer being made to him. BJP leaders attacked Kejriwal and Sisodia, saying that it is the frustration of AAP as their corruption is getting exposed. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided the residence of Sisodia earlier this month in connection with an alleged liquor scam in distributing liquor contracts in Delhi.