New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi minister Atishi on Tuesday (April 2) claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pressuring her to join the saffron party or face arrest by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.
The AAP leader was addressing a press conference in the capital when she said that the BJP delivered this message through a person close to her.
“The BJP, through a close, personal contact, has approached me to join their party. I was told that I can either join the BJP and save my political career as well as further it, or, I will be arrested by ED within a month,” Atishi alleged.
“I was told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have made up their minds to demolish AAP and its leaders,” she added.
‼️ सनसनी खेज खुलासा ‼️
Advertisementमेरे एक करीबी के द्वारा भाजपा की तरफ से मुझे अप्रोच किया गया और कहा गया BJP जॉइन कर लो वरना आने वाले 1 महीने के अंदर ED मेरे घर पर रेड करेगी और मुझे गिरफ्तार कर लिया जाएगा।
BJP का इरादा है कि आने वाले 2 महीने के अंदर मुझे, सौरभ भारद्वाज, राघव चड्ढा और… pic.twitter.com/181ZTctvXz
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) April 2, 2024
Referring to the arrests of AAP leaders Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, Atishi said, “First they came for the top leadership of the party and arrested them. Now they have arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as well.”
The AAP leader’s revelation has come a day after Kejirwal told the ED that Vijay Nair, one of the co-accused in the Delhi liquor policy case, reported to Atishi and Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, not him.
Atishi said that the statement, on the basis of which Bharadwaj and she were named in the court by ED, has been with the central agency since a year and a half. “This statement is in the ED’s as well as CBI’s chargesheet. So what is the reason behind highlighting this statement only now?” the Delhi finance minister asked.
“The BJP is now scared that arresting the top leadership was not enough. After the display of public support for the massive rally at Ramlila Maidan, the BJP has now understood that AAP’s next line of leadership needs to be arrested – wether it is me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Raghav Chaddha or Durgesh Pathak and that is what they are planning,” she said.
Kejriwal was arrested in the liquor policy case on March 21, hours after the Election Commission had published extensive data on electoral bonds.
The ED has alleged that Kejriwal accepted kickbacks from certain liquor vendors in return for favours under the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
