Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will take a confidence vote in the house today to prove all Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs are with him despite what he claims are the BJP’s attempts to break his party and dislodge his government.
Kejriwal said he wanted to take the majority test to prove that his party MLAs would not be tempted to cross over. He has alleged that the BJP has offered Rs 20 crore each to his MLAs to switch sides as part of an “Operation Lotus” – or a plan to topple his government – in Delhi.
Last week, Arvind Kejriwal’s meeting at his home was attended by 53 of AAP’s 62 MLAs in Delhi. The rest were accounted for and joined virtually, said Mr Kejriwal, who later went to Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial Rajghat with the MLAs.
“I have heard they are trying to bribe 40 MLAs to cross over. I am happy that not a single MLA has given in,” Kejriwal had said after visiting Rajghat.
Kejriwal said he went to Rajghat to “pray for the failure of the BJP’s Operation Lotus”. AAP has accused the BJP of plotting an “Operation Lotus” to bring down its government in the pattern of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. His deputy Manish Sisodia had claimed that the BJP had offered to “shut all cases” against him if he quit the AAP and crossed over.
The CBI recently raided Sisodia in a case related to alleged irregularities and corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy which was introduced earlier this year and then rolled back. Sisodia is number one on a list of 15 accused named in the CBI’s FIR on liquor policy violations. The Enforcement Directorate has also filed a money laundering case against him.
The FIR is based on a reference from Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, who had accused AAP of bringing the Excise Policy “with the sole aim” of benefiting private liquor barons for financial benefits to “individuals at the highest echelons of the government. Saxena has alleged various discrepancies in the functioning of the Delhi government. The AAP in turn has accused him of working on the directions of the centre to derail its development projects.
AAP has said that the 2024 general election is set to be a contest between Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accuses the BJP of misusing central agencies to try and stop the AAP leader because of his rising popularity and “commendable” work in the education and health sector.
The BJP has denied AAP’s allegations, accusing it of trying to divert attention from the corruption in its government. The party also dismissed AAP’s claim of being the main challenger to the BJP in the 2024 general election, saying, AAP made tall claims earlier too but could not stand before PM Modi.”
AAP has 62 MLAs in the 70-member Delhi assembly. The BJP has eight and needs 28 more for a majority.
The post Kejriwal to take majority test to prove support intact first appeared on IPA Newspack.
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