NEW DELHI: A war of words erupted between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided former minister Saurabh Bhardwaj’s residence in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged irregularities in hospital construction projects in the capital.
Following the raids, AAP hit out at the ED and the Union Government, calling it a BJP-led conspiracy, and claimed that Bharadwaj was not even a minister when the decisions on hospital construction were taken.
The ruling party welcomed the raid against the AAP MLA, accusing the former Delhi government under Kejriwal of being “corrupt in all fields”. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that it does not matter who was the minister at the time of the “scam”.
“Can Saurabh Bharadwaj, who calls the ED investigation fake, take an oath and say that as Health Minister, he has never approved any emergency or additional tender purchases related to construction work,” the Delhi BJP president challenged the AAP.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said his party would not be intimidated by the “misuse” of central investigation agencies by the Modi government.No party has been targeted the way the AAP is being targeted today, Kejriwal said in a post on X.
“AAP is being targeted because it has been the strongest voice against the Modi government’s wrong policies and corrupt practices. The Modi government wants to silence our voice, but that will never happen,” the former CM said. “AAP will not be intimidated by these raids of the BJP,” he added.
Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia claimed that the case against Bharadwaj is “false”.”The raids are a diversionary tactic. The case pertains to the time when Bharadwaj was not holding any ministerial post. “The case is fake,” he said in a statement issued by the AAP. Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Atishi asserted that all cases against AAP leaders are “politically motivated”.
On the other hand, BJP leaders said, “An investigation into the ‘scam’ in the purchase of medicines is already being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB),” Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said in a video statement. “We have said it earlier also that the previous AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal looted Delhi through scams. Now the party is trying to fool people in other states,” Sachdeva said.
Delhi BJP MLA Harish Khurana alleged that the AAP government paid contractors’ bills, even though no work was done for the construction of hospitals.
Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa slammed AAP and said that “corruption of thousands of crores was done in the name of the construction of 13 hospitals.” He alleged that AAP has gone to Punjab and is looting Punjab with both hands.