Delhi Police serves notice to Arvind Kejriwal over AAP MLA poaching claims
The Delhi chief minister had alleged that the BJP had offered Rs 25 crore each to seven Aam Aadmi Party legislators to defect.
Delhi Police crime branch officials on Saturday served a notice to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to reply in an investigation into his claims that the Bharatiya Janata Party attempted to poach MLAs from his Aam Aadmi Party, PTI reported.
Kejriwal has been asked by the police to reply within three days and reveal names of the MLAs who were claimed to have been approached by the BJP, reported PTI.
On January 27, Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP had offered Rs 25 crore each to seven Aam Aadmi Party MLAs to quit Delhi’s ruling party and to topple his government.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief, in a social media post, claimed that his party was told that 21 MLAs were contacted in all. “However, as per our information, they contacted seven MLAs, all of whom refused the offer,” he said.
Kejriwal claimed the party was told that he would be arrested in some days, after which, attempts would be made to get the MLAs to defect from the party.
The chief minister also alleged that in the last nine years, the BJP had hatched several conspiracies in an attempt to topple his government. “But they did not get any success,” he said.
He had asserted that all his MLAs are firm and united to defeat the “nefarious intentions” of the BJP.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi had alleged that the BJP had launched “Operation Lotus 2.0” in Delhi. “They had made a similar attempt to poach AAP MLAs last year by offering them money but failed,” she said on January 27.
Responding to Kejriwal’s allegations, the BJP asked him to clarify which seven MLAs from his party were contacted and by whom.
“Kejriwal, stop telling beautiful stories,” said the BJP in a social media post. “These stories cannot escape [the] Enforcement Directorate investigation. The public is seeing how AAP leaders accused of corruption are not even getting bail from any court.”
Calling Kejriwal “corrupt”, the party also said that “the politics of trickery has no place in Delhi now”.
A delegation of the BJP’s Delhi unit led by its chief Virender Sachdeva met Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora on Tuesday and demanded an investigation into Kejriwal’s allegations.