The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday alleged that Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had received offers from a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to work against the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit to escape CBI action.
Senior party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that Sisodia, who is facing CBI action in Delhi liquor policy case, was approached by BJP with an offer to become the party’s chief ministerial face in Delhi.
Addressing the media, Bharadwaj claimed that BJP was asking Sisodia to join it along with other legislators. However, the Aam Aadmi Party leader did not name any BJP leader.
Bhardwaj said there were several opposition leaders who faced corruption charges but soon after they joined the BJP, investigations against them were stopped.
“Leaders like Suvendu Adhikari, Himanta Bishwa Sharma, Mukul Roy, Narayan Rane, Baijayant Panda, Reddy Brothers were earlier facing allegations of corruption. But after joining BJP, now these leaders are not being investigated,” he added.
AAP leader Atishi Marlena alleged that the “same BJP leader” who had contacted Himanta Biswa Sarma, Suvendu Adhikari, Baijayant Panda and Mukul Rai had approached Sisodia a few days ago with an offer to join the BJP.
Earlier on Monday, Sisodia in a tweet said he had received an offer from the BJP to join them by splitting the AAP in lieu of getting the CBI against him closed.
“My reply to the BJP is – I am a descendant of Maharana Pratap, a Rajput. I will cut off my head but will not bow down to the corrupt and those who conspire. All the cases against me are false. Do what you want to do,” Sisodia tweeted.
Last week, CBI conducted searches on Sisodia’s official residence and carried out raids at several places in connection with the alleged corruption in the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy.
The AAP has maintained the allegations of corruption are politically motivated. The BJP, on the other hand, has attacked claiming that its model of governance was getting exposed.
