AAP sting shows BJP leader offering Rs 4 cr to MLA for quitting

BJP denies it; Congress alleges AAP has also been attempting to induce Congress MLAs to help it form govt in Delhi yet again

 

It was a slugfest of competing accusations between the three major rival political parties of Delhi on Monday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) released a video of a senior Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader caught on tape ostensibly promising Rs 4 crore to an AAP MLA to resign from the Assembly.

The Congress saw in the incident, the power-hungry face of BJP, and alleged AAP has also been attempting to induce Congress MLAs to help it form a government in Delhi yet again.

BJP seemed at a loss of words after AAP leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal made the sting public on Monday morning. The sting purportedly showed Delhi BJP vice-president Sher Singh Dagar promising AAP’s Dinesh Mohania, MLA from Sangam Vihar, Rs 4 crore. The money, claimed AAP, was offered to influence Mohania to quit his Assembly seat and get four more of his party MLAs do the same. Such a step would help bring down the effective strength of Delhi Assembly, suitably enough to enable BJP sail through any no-confidence vote.

Initially, BJP distanced itself from both Dagar and the allegations against him. Dagar rejected the allegations against him, saying he had been “framed”.

He claimed it was the AAP MLAs who had been pursuing him for the past one-and-a-half months and had shown keenness to join BJP. “I will quit politics if any charge against me is proved ,” Dagar, BJP candidate from Mehrauli Assembly seat, said. Eventually, the BJP did come out in support of Dagar. A spokesperson questioned the veracity of the video. "Things are unclear in the video. Its authenticity should be checked," he said.

Mohania, the AAP MLA who did the sting on Dagar, said he met the BJP leader at the latter's residence in South Extension locality on Sunday and recorded the 41-minute long video. Mohania said he has recorded all his meetings with BJP leaders over the past month. AAP claimed that Dagar also promised Mohania that he would get the party high command to meet him, fund his re-election and incase he was to lose then accommodate him in one of the sundry civic authorities. Kejriwal claimed that Dagar told Mohania the plan had the approval of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and that BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi was its choice for the CM.

Currently, Delhi is under President's Rule after the AAP-led government quit in mid-February. Delhi had assembly elections last December in which BJP, along with its ally Shiromani Akali Dal, emerged the single largest party but four seats short of the majority mark of 36 in the 70-member assembly. AAP formed a government with the outside support of the Congress. Delhi assembly has 67-members after three BJP MLAs quit after being elected to the Lok Sabha. BJP, along with SAD, have 28 MLAs. AAP has 27. It expelled one of its MLAs earlier this year. Congress has eight MLAs.

Last week, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung had written to the President stressing the need for Delhi to have an elected government. He had offered to explore all possibilities of putting in place a government in Delhi, including inviting the single largest party, the BJP, to stake a claim.

Congress communications department chief Ajay Maken said the episode exposed the "absolute naked power hungry face of the BJP". Maken said people would want to know the identity of the "high command" that Dagar promised AAP MLA to arrange a meeting with. He said BJP's plea that Dagar is not a senior leader was unacceptable. "Everybody who knows Delhi politics is aware that he has been a senior leader of the party," Maken said. Party leader Sandeep Dikshit claimed that AAP leader Kejriwal has also been in contact with a senor Congress leader, and that AAP has contacted Congress MLAs to engineer a rapprochement and come to power. "Not only BJP but also AAP is adopting all measures to come to power," he said.

The AAP has decided to submit the video to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. It has appealed to the President to dissolve Delhi assembly and has said the only solution out of the impasse is fresh elections in Delhi.