Delhi Police Ask CM Arvind Kejriwal To Submit Evidence Over BJP 'MLA Poaching' Allegation

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was asked to submit evidence by police on Sunday to prove his allegations that the BJP offered Rs 25 lakh each to seven of its MLAs for quitting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Crime Branch officials earlier today reached the residence of Delhi minister Atishi to serve a notice in connection with allegations that the BJP was attempting to “poach” AAP MLAs. Atishi was not present at her residence. The minister, however, has given directions to her office staff to receive the notice, sources in the AAP told PTI.

“The team will go again to serve notice to Atishi. This morning she was not present at her residence,” a senior officer of Delhi Police Crime Branch said. This comes a day after Crime Branch officials served a notice to Kejriwal, asking him to reply within three days in a probe into his claims that the BJP attempted to poach seven AAP MLAs.

BJP Rubbishes Allegations

Kejriwal and Atishi are scheduled to lay the foundation stones of two schools in Rohini later in the day. On January 27, Kejriwal and Atishi had claimed that the BJP was trying to poach AAP MLAs by offering Rs 25 crore each and a ticket to contest next year’s assembly poll to topple the AAP government. The BJP had rubbished the allegations, terming them “false” and “baseless”, and dared the chief minister to furnish evidence to back his claims.

In a January 27 post on X, Delhi CM claimed that he was “not being arrested to investigate any liquor scam but they are conspiring to topple the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.” “In the last nine years, they hatched many conspiracies to topple our government. But they did not get any success. God and the people always supported us. All our MLAs are also strongly together. This time also these people will fail in their nefarious intentions,” he added.

(With agency inputs)