Delhi News: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday hit back at the Aam Aadmi Party over the allegations levelled by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that it was trying to poach AAP MLAs to topple his government. The saffron party rejected the claims dubbing them "false" and "baseless" and asked Kejriwal to either give proof to substantiate his claim or resign, as reported by news agency PTI.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that Kejriwal should stop "lying" and dared him to tell the names of the MLAs who, the AAP chief has claimed, were contacted by the BJP. "Kejriwal's statement shows his political frustration. He said that the BJP wants to break off his party MLAs. This shows his mental bankruptcy and how much a party of 62 MLAs (out of 70 in Assembly) is frustrated after losing its political ground," he said, as quoted by PTI.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri slammed the claims made by the Delhi CM saying that Chief Minister Kejriwal has made "false allegations to defame the BJP". "He should provide proof of his statement otherwise he should resign from the post of chief minister," Bidhuri said, as quoted by PTI. He further stated that the saffron party is consulting experts for legal action in this matter.
Bidhuri also claimed that Kejriwal's dream of becoming a major political leader in the country was disintegrating as the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was soaring after the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. "The BJP is going to win 400 seats in Lok Sabha polls, so AAP is falsely accusing the BJP of poaching its MLAs," he said. The AAP leaders have also alleged that the BJP was conspiring to get Kejriwal arrested in a "fake" liquor scam case and topple his government by poaching AAP MLAs.
The Delhi BJP President slammed Kejriwal and said that he is making such absurd statements so that he can stay alive politically. "People can see that Kejriwal needs an alliance for survival as his political ground has slipped ahead of Lok Sabha polls. So, he is making such absurd statements so that he can stay alive politically," he said, as quoted by PTI.
Speaking on the matter, Delhi BJP secretary Bansuri Swaraj said that the "absurd" claims made by the Delhi CM and other AAP leaders including Delhi minister Atishi show that they have lost all their discretion before their imminent fall. "Kejriwal has now run out of excuses to avoid ED investigation in the liquor scam so he has started resorting to lies," she stated.
Arvind Kejriwal has so far skipped four notices of the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged excise policy scam in his government.