The controversy surrounding Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti continues to grow. As the public agitation around his "midnight raid" grew, today Bharti accused some journalists questioning them of accepting money from BJP's Narendra Modi.
When a reporter asked Bharti if he would resign on moral grounds, Bharti asked him: "How much money have you got from (Narendra) Modi?"
Later on, the minister apologised for his statements and also said that what he said had been misinterpreted. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Bharti's comments were "inappropriate".
Somnath Bharti. Facebook image
Bharti, who had chosen to attend a kite flying festival instead of appearing before the Delhi Commission of Women on Friday after he was summoned for the midnight raid episode, charged that the Women's Commission is "political".
Attacking DCW chief Barkha Singh, he said, "Barkha Singh is a Congress member… She should have resigned herself after her government's term ended".
Terming all the reports against him as false, the law minister threatened, "They are trying to defame me, I am going to take them to the court." However, it was not clear who he was referring to.
As reporters continued to question him over the controversy surrounding him, he accused them of taking money from the Gujarat Chief Minister.
"How much money have you received from Modi?" he shot back.
DCW had on Friday summoned Bharti following allegations that the Delhi minister led a group of AAP workers who misbehaved with a number of African women on the pretext of a raid on an alleged drug and prostitution ring in South Delhi last week.
The Law Minister was asked to depose before the commission to explain the charges against him but he sent his lawyers, who said he was absent due to "some urgencies".
Bharti's lawyers and the Commission Chief Singh, a former Congress MLA, had a public confrontation at the DCW office after she refused to allow them to present the minister's response.
The Aam Aadmi Party had on Friday said in a statement that it "strongly disapproved of the politicisation of the office of Delhi Commission for Women by its chairperson".
With agency inputs
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