BJP trying to poach AAP councillors ahead MCD Standing Committee poll Durgesh Pathak

    New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) AAP on Friday accused the BJP of trying to threaten its councillors with ED and CBI raids in a bid to influence the September 26 voting for the vacant MCD Standing Committee seat.
    The party's Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in-charge Durgesh Pathak claimed during a press conference that the BJP's candidate Sunder Singh tried to bribe AAP councillors in Burari to join the saffron party ahead of the election.
    There was no immediate response from Singh.
    "The BJP has been playing dirty politics to break AAP. In the past few days and earlier as well, they approached our leaders and offered them money to join their party. Recently, Sunder Singh approached councillors from the constituency of our Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha and offered them Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore to join the BJP," Pathak alleged.
    He said AAP would soon release CCTV camera footage to establish Singh's presence in Burari, where he claimed the offer was made.
    Pathak also alleged AAP leaders resisting the BJP's attempts were being threatened with raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
    "In a desperate bid to win the Standing Committee election, the BJP is back to its old tactic of poaching AAP councillors. Crores of rupees are being dangled and those who resist are being threatened with harassment by the ED and the CBI," he said.
    Pathak said the BJP was using "intimidation tactics" to break AAP.
    "On one hand, honest politics is being championed in the country under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal. After a false allegation, Arvind Kejriwal said 'until I pass the agni pariksha in the people's court, I will not sit on the chief minister's chair' and resigned. On the other hand, the BJP is trying to bribe our councillors with offers of Rs 2 crore and MLA tickets, as well as intimidation tactics," he said.
    Citing the example of councillor Ram Chander from Bawana, who recently returned to AAP after briefly joining the BJP, Pathak said the saffron party forcibly made him join by threatening him with raids by central agencies.
    "When he returned to AAP after two days, people associated with the BJP abducted him from his home. Many similar incidents have come to light in the last few days in which people associated with the BJP are constantly trying to break our councillors by adopting every trick," he claimed.
    Pathak mentioned that AAP had asked all councillors to record any attempt made to bribe them to expose the BJP.
    The press conference was also addressed by Jha and AAP's Bawana councillor Ritu Mukesh Solanki's husband Mukesh Solanki.
    Jha said, "There are three AAP councillors in my assembly constituency. Sundar Singh, the BJP candidate, went to one of them and offered him Rs 2 crore and an MLA ticket in exchange for joining the BJP. He threatened our councillor that ED, CBI would harass him if he didn't join."
    "He also said that the 'Goa chief minister wants to come and talk to you'. Similarly, he is going to the other councillors and trying to buy them using threats," Jha alleged.
    Solanki claimed he was approached by people for convincing his wife to cross vote in the election.
    "On Thursday, I received a call from some acquaintances who asked to meet me. I was asked to (convince my wife to) vote for the BJP in the Standing Committee election. When pressure was put on me, I had to tell senior party leaders," he said.
    "We are honest people. We will not break or sell ourselves. We are with Arvind Kejriwal with full loyalty and will not betray the party," Solanki added.
    Responding to the allegations, the BJP's Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said whenever AAP faced defeat and frustration, it repeated its "Operation Lotus" chant.
    AAP had titled the press conference "Big disclosure of BJP's Operation Lotus in Delhi MCD".
    "AAP's repetitive political refrain of 'Operation Lotus' is just a sign of defeat and frustration. Their leaders keep repeating the 'Operation Lotus' accusation against the BJP to stop the disintegration of their own party," he said.
    The MCD Standing Committee election will be held on September 26 to fill the vacancy created after BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat was elected to the Lok Sabha.
    AAP has fielded its Sainik Enclave councillor Nirmala Kumari for the election.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)