The Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused each other of attempting to lure newly-elected councillors into their fold.

The Aam Aadmi Party made the allegations at a press conference led by MP Sanjay Singh who was accompanied by three party councillors – Ronakshi Sharma, Arun Nawariya, and Jyoti Rani.

On December 7, the Aam Aadmi Party had won 134 out of 250 wards in the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The BJP, which had ruled the civic body for the last 15 years, finished second with 104 seats.

On Saturday, Singh alleged that the BJP was resorting to “dirty tricks” despite having lost 80 seats as compared to the previous election. The Rajya Sabha MP claimed that a man named Yogendra had called Sharma and said that Adesh Gupta, the chief of the BJP’s Delhi unit, would speak with her.

“Adesh Gupta ji and BJP leaders were speaking of a budget of Rs 100 crore to buy 10 councillors,” Singh claimed.

“The BJP is resorting to the same tactics that it used in Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, and Gujarat,” the AAP MP alleged, urging the Delhi Police commissioner to investigate the allegations.

Singh also asked how the BJP could speak of holding the mayor’s post in Delhi, when it won 30 wards less than the AAP. “Is there any meaning left to the popular mandate and democracy in the country?” he asked, and alleged that the BJP has turned into a “kidnapping gang”.

Earlier in the day, the BJP also accused the AAP of luring its councillors into its fold. Party leader Harish Khuranna alleged that “[AAP chief Arvind] Kejriwal’s agent Shikha Garg” was luring councillors to join the BJP.

The BJP’s vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda alleged that attempts were made to lure a councillor, Monika Pant, into the AAP.

“A party which claims to be ‘kattar imandar’ [scrupulously honest] stands thoroughly exposed today,” he said. “The attempt to lure our newly elected councillor Dr Monika Pant into supporting AAP is one of the many instances of the brazen corruption methods of Arvind Kejriwal Ji and his team.”