NEW DELHI: The turmoil within the Aam Aadmi Party saw multiple twists and turns on Monday. Ousted minister Kapil Mishra levelled fresh allegations against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s relative who died on Sunday. Later, Mishra also lodged his complaint with the Anti Corruption Bureau and said he would meet CBI officials on Tuesday. Following this, he was suspended from the party.
The day-long events began with Kapil Mishra meeting ACB officials in the morning. He was seen carrying an envelope with the word ‘confidential’ scribbled over it. “Satyendar Jain told me he had arranged a seven-acre land deal worth `50 crore in Chattarpur for Kejriwal’s brother in-law’s family,” Mishra said after the meeting. “Being the PWD minister, Jain also fudged bills to the tune of `10 crore to benefit Kejriwal’s relative,” he alleged. “First FIR will be on cash deal between Satyendra Jain and Arvind Kejriwal Ji,” Mishra tweeted later. “Second FIR will be on How Satyendra Jain has benefited close relatives of Kejriwal in illegal land deals. Third FIR will be on foreign tours using illegal money by Satyendra Jain, Ashish Khetan, Raghav Chaddha, Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak,” he added.
The first reaction to the allegation came from the Delhi CM’s wife Sunita Kejriwal. “My brother-in-law is no more. This man is speaking a written script without any (sic) mind,” she tweeted. In a stoic response, Kejriwal said, “Truth with prevail. It will start tomorrow with the special session of Delhi Assembly.”
The party alleged that the BJP was hatching a conspiracy against the AAP through Mishra. “Mishra’s allegations are laughable. I want to ask him if Kejriwal had called him up before accepting the ‘bribe’,” said senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, referring to the sacked minister’s claim that he was an eyewitness to Jain giving `2 crore to Kejriwal. The party has also shown a letter written by Mishra to the ACB in 2016 saying the agency was trying to target Kejriwal in the alleged water tanker scam.
BJP demands Jain’s sacking
BJP MLAs met Lt Governor Anil Baijal and demanded the immediate removal of Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain from the Arvind Kejriwal government. Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta, who led the delegation of four MLAs, said the LG should advise the ACB and CBI to expedite probes into allegations of corruption against the two.