NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday "accepted" a complaint against the BJP's 'Operation Lotus' after the AAP MLAs sat on a dharna outside the agency headquarters here for almost two hours, the party legislators said.
Amid the agitation, some CBI officials took AAP's chief whip in Delhi Assembly Dilip K Pandey and Kalkaji MLA Atishi inside the agency premises to lodge their complaint.
"We finally lodged the complaint and got a receipt as well. But, it is very unfortunate that 10 elected representatives of people were made to wait for almost two hours on the road and none of the officials met us," Atishi told reporters.
It seems the CBI gets scared when there is a complaint against the BJP, she charged.
"In the complaint, we have said that BJP has purchased 277 MLAs across the country so far spending an estimated Rs 6,300 crore and there were also preparations of the BJP to buy 40 MLAs of AAP in Delhi. Hence, the CBI should conduct a probe," she added.
Pandey alleged that none of the CBI officials "cared" to "understand from AAP MLAs how the BJP has murdered democrary and destablised the other parties' governments by buying MLAs".
"Yet, we hope that the CBI will immediately start an investigation into our complaint and bring the truth of BJP's Operation Lotus out before the country. We will follow it up daily and ask them about the progress made," the Timarpur MLA added.
A delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sat on a dharna outside the CBI headquarters after it went to meet agency director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal to demand a probe into alleged attempts to topple the Delhi government but was not allowed entry.
The AAP had earlier in the day said it would meet Jaiswal to demand a probe into the alleged attempts to unseat non-BJP governments in various states by the saffron party by poaching legislators under 'Operation Lotus'.
The 10-member delegation of AAP MLAs reached the CBI headquarters to meet its director at 3 pm even though his office had not given any response to their request for the meeting.
"This proves that the CBI functions at the behest of the BJP. I had also requested an appointment with the CBI director but I am yet to get any response," AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told reporters after he joined the protest.
Singh termed as "unfortunate" the CBI's refusal to allow AAP legislators to meet the agency director and lodge a complaint, saying even an ordinary police station receives complaints from the people when they reach there.
"But here, elected MLAs of Delhi who want to lodge a complaint against the BJP's Operation Lotus in Delhi have been made to stand outside the CBI headquarters for an hour," he charged.
"The CBI must probe the toppling of governments by the BJP and ascertain the source of the money being used for buying MLAs under Operation Lotus,'' he demanded.
Atishi, who was part of the 10-member delegation, said the party had earlier sent an e-mail to the Jaiswal's office seeking an appointment with him but it was yet to get a response.
"We have come here and are demanding that time be given to us (to meet the CBI director) because 'Operation Lotus' is a very important issue. The BJP has spent Rs 6,300 crore on 'Operation Lotus'. Hence, a CBI investigation should be conducted (into the matter) and the source of this money should be ascertained," Atishi told reporters.
"We are hopeful of being allotted time," she added.
The BJP has denied the allegations and demanded that AAP MLAs who claimed that they have been approached by the BJP and offered up to Rs 20 crore to switch sides should undergo a lie detector test.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had accused the BJP of trying to poach AAP MLAs and topple the Kejriwal government after the CBI raids against him in the alleged excise scam.
Earlier in the day, Atishi said whenever the BJP loses assembly elections in any state, its 'Operation Lotus' begins with the use of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to corner the state government.
Thereafter, the ruling party MLAs are offered money and promised that cases against them will be withdrawn if they join the BJP, she alleged.