BJP trying to bribe MLAs to topple Delhi government: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and its senior leader Arun Jaitley of machinations aimed at bringing down the government in Delhi. The allegation was made alongside claims by an AAP MLA that he was offered Rs 30 crore, allegedly by the BJP, to support rebel AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny in the latter's efforts to engineer the collapse of the government.

He was offered Rs 10 crore by a person very close to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Madan Lal added. He admitted he had no proof or evidentiary backing to his claims.

Representational image. PTI

Speaking at a press conference in Delhi, AAP MLA from Kasturba Nagar Madan Lal, said he got a call, first in the run-up to formation of the minority government in Delhi, and then was approached once again more recently. One caller promised to schedule a meeting of the MLA with Jaitley, he claimed. Somebody close to Narendra Modi later also approached him separately, he said, adding that Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Binny had predicted two days ago that the AAP government would collapse within 10 days.

Binny was earlier reported to have met Sirsa. Jaitley's blog posts over the past few days have focused on the AAP and its methods.

All the efforts to pull down the government were at the behest of power companies, claimed AAP spokesperson Sanjay Singh. "It is just after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal threatened he would cancel licences of power companies that all this has begun... It is the Adanis, Ambanis who are behind this," Singh said.

Singh charged Jaitley with propping up Vinod Kumar Binny and the independent MLA threatening to withdraw support from the AAP government and set up a party of their own. "Confidential sources have told us that Jaitley will use his friends in the media to defame the government over the coming days. You may see allegations of AAP members being involved in corruption, etc."

On the issue of citizens of African origin in Delhi, Singh claimed that it was doublespeak on the part of Modi to make comments at his Meerut rally claiming that African citizens are not safe in Delhi.

"I want to say on behalf of the government that citizens of all countries living in Delhi are safe. If there is any illegality against them or any racism, there should be strong action." Singh then went on to say the BJP's own government in Goa had cracked down hard on Nigerians living in the state after an incident in which alleged rivals in the drug trade protested in a macabre fashion on the street with the body of a slain colleague on the middle of the road.

On governance, Singh challenged the newly appointed CMs of Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to an open debate with Kejriwal for people to see who could give true governance.

"Hope has risen in the aam aadmi after the Delhi election. The BJP wants to trample that," he said.