The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday questioned BJP ally TDP's move to field the father of Raghav Manguta Reddy -- who turned approver in the Delhi liquor policy case -- as its Lok Sabha candidate. AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party will campaign for a man who is a key witness against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Addressing presspersons, Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj charged Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, father of one of the accused in excise policy case Raghav Manguta Reddy, is TDP’s candidate from Ongole Lok Sabha seat. "I challenge the ED if it is an independent agency to bring in record this connection and probe it," Atishi said and alleged that the BJP has connections with the so-called 'South Lobby' of liquor traders.

Atishi charged the South Lobby of businessmen had direct connections with the BJP. She alleged Sarath Reddy, another witness in the liquor policy case has donated Rs 60 crore to BJP through electoral bonds. “Sharath Reddy donates Rs 60 crore to BJP through electoral bonds.

 Meanwhile, father-son duo M. Srinivasulu Reddy and Raghav Magunta join BJP's ally TDP And M. Srinivasulu Reddy gets the Lok Sabha ticket,” she charged. Atishi alleged that the ED had been "torturing" the witnesses till it got statements from them against Kejriwal.

Bharadwaj said Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, a former MP of YSR Congress Party joined TDP last year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now be campaigning for a key witness against Kejriwal in the liquor policy case.

"Earlier, another witness against Kejriwal in the excise policy case, Sarath Reddy, had paid Rs 55 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds which proves the party has connection with the 'South Lobby'," Atishi further alleged.

She charged that the ED had been "torturing" the witnesses till it got statements from them against Kejriwal. Referring to the questioning of Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot by the ED in the excise policy case, she said, "They may summon me, Bharadwaj and other AAP leaders and arrest us but we are not scared of going to jail."  She said Kejriwal's arrest was an "assault on democracy" in the country and the whole of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc opposed it.

Kejriwal was arrested on the basis of four statements including by the Maguntas, the AAP leaders claimed. The Delhi chief minister was arrested on March 21 in connection with the excise policy-linked money laundering case being probed by the ED.