The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi has summoned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Aatishi Marlena in a defamation case filed by Delhi BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor for levelling “baseless allegations” against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of poaching MLAs.
Atishi has been summoned to appear before the court on June 29.
Earlier last month, the BJP's Delhi unit had sent a defamation notice to senior AAP leader Atishi and demanded a public apology for her claim that the saffron party approached her through a "very close" person to join it.
“They [AAP leaders] are trying to portray that the BJP is trying to subvert the government by illegal means,” advocate Amit Tiwari, who represented Kapoor, had told the court.
Referring to a press conference conducted by Atishi on April 2, Tiwari had said that the AAP leaders alleged that Rs 20-30 crore was offered by the BJP to procure certain AAP MLAs.
“Whenever ED approached the AAP leaders in relation to the excise policy case, baseless allegations were made by them… to play the victim card. They damaged the reputation of the BJP,” Tiwari added.
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He also said the moment Atishi’s name surfaced in the excise policy case, she also made the same allegations to divert the attention from the “real issue”.
What are the allegations against AAP
Atishi held a press conference on April 2 to claim that she was approached by the BJP to join them or else she would be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.
Moreover, out-on-bail Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet dated 27 January 2024 had alleged that the BJP contacted seven of their MLAs and were planning to topple the AAP government.
Kejriwal is currently out on interim bail in relation to the money laundering case related to the now-scrapped excise policy.