Stepping up his attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, sacked Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra on Monday claimed that Health Minister Satyendar Jain had told him that he had settled a Rs 50 crore land deal in favour of Kejriwal's brother-in-law. The party trashed the allegations accusing Mishra of being hand in glove with BJP and the central government.
Two days after he was sacked, Mishra went to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) and claimed to have evidence in support of his allegations that two people close to Kejriwal tried to influence the probe in the water tanker scam.
He also dared Kejriwal and Jain to undergo a lie detector test and offered to subject himself to such a test.
Denying Mishra's allegations, Jain said that "no such land deal took place" and said he would file a defamation case against Mishra.
"There is a limit to lying. I wasn't present at CM's residence on May 5 (Friday) and I can prove it in many ways," Jain said. "Show us papers (of land deal) or proof if its true?" he said.
"He has lost mental balance and making baseless allegations as he did not even spare Kejriwal's deceased brother-in-law," he said.
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Jain said that Mishra was making allegations against Kejriwal's brother-in-law (Surendra Bansal) who is "no more".
The former Water Minister said he will meet Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Tuesday, give all evidence in support of the allegations and file an FIR.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded its senior leader Sanjay Singh to trash the allegations leveled by Mishra.
Singh accused the BJP and the central government of being behind Mishra in his campaign against Kejriwal, saying this is part of a larger conspiracy to "finish off" the party and to "silence" the opposition.
Singh told the media that the kind of allegations Mishra had made made it clear that he was being used to harass Kejriwal and other ministers in the Delhi government.
"Mishra is now speaking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. He is saying the same thing the two parties had been saying for months. This makes it clear who is behind all this," he said.
Singh said Mishra was making all sorts of allegation like that he witnessed Kejriwal taking Rs 2 crore from Jain.
"Party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) will sit today (Monday) and discuss about the action against Kapil Mishra," he said in response to a question about possible action against the sacked Delhi minister.
"Making such serious allegations, Mishra did not even feel it important to clarify when the deal was conducted and which relative of Kejriwal was involved," Singh said.
On Monday, Mishra filed a complaint regarding what is known as the water tanker scam with the ACB, saying Kejriwal delayed action in the case.
"The ACB is under the central government which is ruled by the BJP. It is the BJP which is behind all this," Singh said.
The AAP leader said that at a time when the country was facing serious internal and external security threats, the only priority for the BJP and the central government was to finish off the AAP.
Rejecting the BJP's demand for Kejriwal's resignation, Singh said that "severe" allegations of corruption were made against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by suspended BJP member Kirti Azad, but nothing happened.
"Despite serious allegations of corruption against Jaitley, he is still holding the post of Finance Minister. So, we do not need to learn the lessons of morality and principles from the BJP and the Congress," Singh said.
Countering Singh, Mishra met the media again in the evening to claim that Jain had told him that he managed a Rs 50 crore land deal in Chhattarpur (south Delhi) for Kejriwal's brother-in-law.
"The deal was finalised for the Bansal family," he said.
Rebutting Singh's charge that he spoke BJP's language, Mishra said he had always spoken stridently against the BJP's policies and the government and decried the way the AAP brands people who speak against the leadership.
"I would never join the BJP," he said and dared his detractors to provide even a shred of evidence that he was in league with the BJP.
Singh rejected Mishra's allegations about the land deal, saying "these are all wild allegations and without any proof", a view echoed by Jain.
He also said it was a conspiracy to arrest AAP ministers and dismiss the government.
Meanwhile, ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena said Mishra did not give any complaint regarding Kejriwal accepting money from Jain.
He said that Mishra came to the ACB office to make a statement in water tanker scam case.
"We will take a detailed statement and then we will start our probe," Meena said.
--IANS
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