AAP Accuses BJP Of Defecting MLAs; Atishi Says BJP Trying To Finish Opposition In Delhi

The BJP is trying to finish opposition parties, the AAP alleged on Wednesday after its Chhatarpur MLA, Kartar Singh, joined the saffron party. In a press conference, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that attempts are being made to threaten and frame his party's MLAs.

"Some MLAs succumb to pressure. We do not have any grudge against them. They may have some compulsions," he said when asked to comment on Kartar Singh joining the BJP. Singh along with former AAP minister Raaj Kumar Anand, who contested the recent Lok Sabha polls on a BSP ticket, joined the BJP at its headquarters in the presence of senior party leaders, including Arun Singh and Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva, said a Delhi BJP statement.

In 2016, an income tax raid was conducted at Kartar Singh's residence. The income tax department had claimed then that Rs 130 crore cash was found in the raid, Bharadwaj said. "The sword was hanging over his head. I feel, people get tired under pressure if faced with an IT (income tax) probe and raid," he said and added that Anand's has been "exposed" after joining the BJP.

"I had said earlier when Anand resigned as minister and left the party that he will soon join the BJP because he was facing a probe," he said.

Bharadwaj alleged that Anand was doing politics in the name of Dalits and stands exposed after he joining the BJP. The BJP has dirtied the politics of the country to the extent that it forces any political person to do anything through arm twisting, he charged.

It is trying to weaken and finish opposition parties in the country so that there is no one left to raise people's issues like hike in cooking gas prices and the NEET paper leak matter, the AAP leader alleged. The Lok Sabha poll results however showed that the opposition is gaining strength and the BJP's attempts are not fructifying, he said.