Several AAP volunteers and office-bearers on Tuesday joined the Delhi unit of the BJP which has been accused of trying to topple the Kejriwal Government and weaken the ruling party in two States.
Welcoming the new entrants in the party fold, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said that AAP volunteers quit the party in protest over charges of corruption in the Excise Policy against the Kejriwal Government in Delhi. AAP workers who joined the BJP included Mayur Vihar district vice-president Anuj Kumar Singh, Najafgarh Vidhan Sabha in-charge Jitendra Sharma, Anjani Mishra, Krishna Kumar, Amarnath, and Danish Khan. “Several office bearers of AAP, including its East Delhi Lok Sabha unit in-charge Chandra Ketu Mishra, have joined the BJP. They quit the AAP, troubled by scams and corruption of the Kejriwal government," the Delhi BJP president said.
Gupta said that AAP is diverting issue with its accusation against BJP of trying to cause a rift in party, and avoiding questions raised over allegations in its excise policy. “AAP leaders are talking about 'Operation Lotus' only to divert attention from their scams and corruption. Ten senior volunteers who held posts of office bearers in different units of AAP and their scores of followers have joined the AAP,” said Gupta. “The way AAP Government has created records of corruption in every sector, AAP workers were disillusioned with the party and have joined BJP," he said.
Facing a CBI probe in the Delhi excise policy, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had on Monday claimed that he was "offered the CM's post" by the BJP and closure of all cases if he quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the saffron outfit. Sisodia's has been supported in his claim by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said that raids by CBI were attempts to topple his government in Delhi.
The BJP and AAP have been locking horns over "irregularities" in the liquor policy of the Delhi Government currently being probed by CBI.
Sisodia had earlier alleged that the BJP has been using the CBI to stop Arvind Kejriwal, who has been on a victorious run in the national capital and has emerged as a strong alternative to Modi for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.