New Delhi: Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi claimed Tuesday that the ruling BJP had asked her to join them or face arrest within the next one month.
She also alleged that three other senior AAP leaders — Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and MLA Durgesh Pathak — would be arrested in the next two months.
Atishi, who has been holding fort in the Delhi government following the arrests of the party’s senior leaders, and most recently Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, told the media that the BJP had approached her through a “personal friend”.
“I was told to join the party to save my political career and grow it. If I did not, I was told I would be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the next one month,” she alleged.
She claimed to have knowledge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP had “made up their minds to finish the AAP”.
“The BJP hoped that Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest would break the AAP, and pull down its morale,” she added.
The minister said more arrests were highly possible as the ED had mentioned her and Bhardwaj’s names in a Delhi court Monday, while seeking judicial custody for Kejriwal in the excise policy case.
The ED Monday told the court that Kejriwal had said that co-accused Vijay Nair reported to Atishi and Bhardwaj, not to him.
Atishi told the media Tuesday that this information was on record with the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the last one and a half years. Vijay Nair, who was arrested by the CBI in the liquor policy case in November 2022, had revealed this to the CBI during his interrogation, she added.
“Nair’s statement is in both ED and CBI chargesheets. Then why bring it up today? This is because the BJP fears that AAP will carry on with determination in spite of the arrests of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendar Jain… And wants to embroil the rest,” she said.
Atishi said the “huge turnout” at Delhi’s Ramlila Ground Sunday was proof of the people’s support for the AAP. Top leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc had gathered at the grounds and addressed the crowd to express solidarity with Arvind Kejriwal and arrested former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren.
They exhorted the audience to “save democracy” and end the dictatorial rule of the BJP, reiterating that central agencies like the ED and CBI were being let loose on Opposition leaders before the upcoming national polls.
“So now the BJP feels that they need to arrest the next line of leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party,” Atishi said at a press conference Tuesday.
Asked if Kejriwal would resign as chief minister, Atishi said: “There are two constitutional and legal provisions related to this in our country. Representation of the People Act says if you have been convicted for more than two years, then you cannot remain a public representative. Arvind Kejriwal has not been convicted…Kejriwal enjoys an overwhelming majority in the Delhi Assembly, so there is no reason for Arvind Kejriwal to resign. If Arvind Kejriwal resigns today, then it will be a very simple and straightforward solution for the BJP to topple Opposition governments.”
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on 21 March in a money laundering case tied to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy of 2021-2022. The agency kept him in its remand for 10 days, before seeking judicial custody.
On Monday, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court sent the chief minister to judicial custody till 15 April. He is now in Tihar Jail.
The probe agency has accused Kejriwal of being the “kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi excise policy scam who generated and used proceeds of crime in the Goa election”.
Also read: Fact Check: Photos from Argentina are being wrongly shared as visuals of AAP, INDIA bloc rally