Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Friday tabled a trust vote motion in the Delhi Assembly and repeated his allegation that the Bharatiya Janata Party offered money to MLAs from his party to switch sides.

Kejriwal claimed two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs told him that they were offered Rs 25 crore each to join the BJP. The Delhi chief minister said the legislators were told that he would be arrested soon and that the BJP had spoken to 21 MLAs about leaving the Aam Aadmi Party.

Following this, he said, the party contacted all its MLAs and found that seven were contacted by the BJP.

The Delhi chief minister made the claim two days after he was summoned for the sixth time by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor policy case.

“This so-called excise policy case is no case at all,” said Kejriwal on Friday. “They [central agencies] do not intend to conduct any investigation. As we have been witnessing, they [the BJP] have toppled several state governments. That is what their intention in Delhi was as well because they know they cannot win elections here.”

He said he has moved the trust motion to make it evident that none of the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs have defected.

The case

The Enforcement Directorate’s case is based on a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation alleging irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government modified the liquor excise policy to ensure a 12% profit margin for wholesalers and a nearly 185% profit margin for retailers.

The Enforcement Directorate has also claimed that members of a so-called South Group had paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party through businessman Vijay Nair.

Two senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders – Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh – are currently in jail in connection with the case. Kejriwal has skipped five summons by the Enforcement Directorate.

On February 3, the Eagency moved a Delhi court seeking direction to Kejriwal to appear before it for questioning. The court summoned the chief minister before it on February 17.

MLA poaching claims

On January 27 as well, Kejriwal 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.

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 tall tales,” said the BJP in a social media post. “You cannot escape [the] Enforcement Directorate investigation with such stories. The public is seeing how AAP leaders accused of corruption are not even getting bail from any court.”

On February 3, the Delhi Police crime branch officials served a notice to the chief minister, asking him to reply to an investigation into his claims.

Also read: A ‘liquor scam’ has put AAP leaders in jail. But has it dented the party’s image in Delhi?