Aam Aadmi Party’s former leader Hardip Singh Kingra on Thursday accused that party’s national organisation building head Durgesh Pathak’s close associates take
Rs 5 lakh for arranging meeting with him (Pathak).
Kingra, making serious allegations against the AAP’s style of fund raising in Punjab, substantiated his allegations with the help of audio recordings, he made public during a Press conference in Chandigarh.
He claimed that in the audio recording, it could be clearly heard that one close associate of Pathak, identified as Amrish Tirkha of ludhiana, was asking for Rs 5 lakh for arranging meeting with Pathak.
Kingra, a former member of the Finance Committee of the AAP, alleged that before lok Sabha elections in 2014, total 27 bank accounts of the party, including 13 of lok Sabha candidates and 13 of the party in each parliamentary constituency and one at State level was opened in IDBI Bank.
“After parliamentary elections, barring four bank accounts including of Bhagwant Mann (Sangrur), HS Phoolka (ludhiana), Bathinda and Ferozepur, all other accounts were made inoperative,” Kingra said while daring the party’s legal Cell head Himmat Singh Shergil to clarify which bank account of AAP was operative at State level.
He made it clear that Chhotepur was not authorities to operate any bank account.
Contrary to AAP leaders’ claim that party does not accept cash donation of more than Rs 20,000, Kingra alleged that in March, AAP leader Ashutosh was handed over a “thaili” (pouch) containing Rs 16 lakh cash at Tarn Taran by party volunteers.
Kingra even suspected something ‘fishy’ in the
supply of publicity materials including “dande and jhande” directly from Delhi.
“You can imagine what kind of faith Delhi leaders of AAP had on Punjab’s leaders, they even supplied dande and jhande from Delhi with higher cost of transportation
than the cost of actual material,” he added.
Kingra, known as a close associated of party’s former State convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur, made a ‘mobile conversation regarding distribution of party tickets’ public alleging that the AAP had been identifying financially sound people, interested in joining party, and used to take hefty money from them.
He also alleged that the AAP is a one man show
run by ‘egoistic’ Arvind Kejriwal, who never trusted Punjabi leaders.