NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the ‘heavy BJP machinery’ deployed during campaigning made the MCD polls for AAP a toughest election so far and accused the saffron party of trying to ‘buy’ its councillors. He claimed that the BJP started telephoning his party’s councillors and offering them up to Rs 20 lakh each.
“This election was very tough. The way BJP conspired against us and the way they used state machinery against us made it the toughest elections we ever contested,” Kejriwal said. “Heavy BJP machinery deployed during campaigning made the MCD polls the toughest election for AAP so far,” he added. Referring to purported videos of jailed minister Satyender Jain getting special treatment, Kejriwal said BJP pressured the media to spread “propaganda against us”.
“They (BJP) will try to buy you. They have started calling the councillors. Somebody is being offered Rs 10 lakh and some Rs 20 lakh,” the AAP supremo said. “I am completely sure no one from you will fall for their offer. However, we need to expose them. Put your phone on recording and whenever there is a call from them, record it,” the chief minister added.
“Despite all the tricks”, Kejriwal said the BJP could not breach the AAP’s reputation which it has earned through its work and trust. “Despite their propaganda, the people voted for us in the MCD. It means people trust what we did and earned in the last few years. The BJP thought people are gullible but they are not,” he said, adding the saffron party’s “propaganda” did not work.
AAP does positive politics and talks about its work, unlike the BJP which “spreads fake videos and letters” of a jailed conman, he claimed without taking any name. Several purported videos of Jain meeting visitors and the jail superintendent, eating fruits and vegetables and getting massages in his prison cell have gone viral, giving ammunition to the BJP to attack the AAP.