NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday alleged that the arrest of its MLA Amanatullah Khan was part of the BJP’s efforts to poach Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s legislators and topple its government in Delhi under “Operation Lotus”.
The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) arrested the AAP legislator on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in Delhi Waqf Board recruitment, officials said. Khan is the chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board.
“Looks like they are suffering a lot in Gujarat,” said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in an attack on the BJP.
He also anticipated the arrest of more MLAs of his party in the coming days.“First, they arrested Satyendar Jain. They are not able to present any evidence despite the court repeatedly asking for it. Then, Manish Sisodia’s residence was raided, but nothing was found there. Now, Amanatullah has been arrested. More MLAs will now be arrested,” he said.
Reacting to Khan’s arrest, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the BJP of continuing with its “Operation Lotus” to “break” AAP leaders away from the party. Earlier, AAP leaders had alleged that the BJP was trying to poach party MLAs and offering `20 crore each to topple the AAP government in Delhi.
The AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj lashed out at the BJP over Khan’s arrest and accused the ACB of “planting” misleading news in the media about Khan at the behest of the saffron party.
He said Khan has been arrested in a case registered in January 2020.“Probe agencies are only batting for the BJP so that the saffron party trolls can spread lies on social media, showing wads of currencies and firearms. This is what the CBI and ED does,” he said.
“The ACB did not find any cash, arms, gold or benami property or anything illegal while raiding both the houses of Khan but it planted a fake news in the media that its raiding team found cash and firearms at the MLA’s house,” Bharadwaj said.