|
. 260. 'Poacher' Kejriwal under fire:
Leaked audio tape features Delhi Chief Minister trying to recruit six Congress MLAs
By HEENA KAUSAR
PUBLISHED: 23:40 GMT, 11 March 2015 | UPDATED: 23:40 GMT, 11 March 2015
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was allegedly recorded telling the party’s former MLA Rajesh Garg to poach Congress MLAs
Less than a month after taking the Delhi chief minister’s seat with a historic mandate, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal is faced with his biggest political fight yet.
The ‘sting king’ was on Wednesday stung back by an audio tape, recorded in July 2014 by the party’s former MLA Rajesh Garg. The tape features Kejriwal allegedly telling Garg last year to poach six Congress MLAs in order to form the government.
“We are ready to form the government, but the Congress is not ready to support us. Manish (Sisodia) is in touch with them. Do one thing; split the Congress and ask their six MLAs to float a new party and support us,” Kejriwal allegedly said in the audio, which was a telephonic conversation with Garg.
“The Congress won’t support us. We have been trying for the last one-and-a-half month. These six Congress MLAs would have supported the BJP, but
three of them are Muslims. They won't support the BJP. Those six MLAs should support us,” Kejriwal said.
Congress leader Mateen Ahmed confirmed that he had received a call from Garg urging him to support AAP.
“Some other Congress MLAs and I were approached by Garg but I told him only the party can take the final decision,” he told Mail Today.
Former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad also claimed he has a tape in which Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia can be heard offering him a post in exchange of supporting the party: “They approached me and some others. They said if we six MLAs join them, all doors are open for us. I can release the tape if Sanjay Singh denies that he was in touch with me.”
Garg maintained that he did not leak the audio: “I had emailed it to Vishwasji (Kumar Vishwas). I have been part of the anti-corruption movement and I habitually record all my conversations. After I opposed the poaching of MLAs, I was sidelined in the party. So I stopped going to the party office.”
For his part, Vishwas hit back at Garg, alleging that the former party MLA was trying to blackmail him for a party ticket.
He tweeted: “Mr failed conspirator Rajesh Garg Ji, I had forwarded the audio clip to the party on the same day you tried to blackmail me with the same. That was when you tried to exchange a Vidhansabha ticket with this audio. remember? Denied a ticket, u r free to do whatever u wish.”
The party on Wednesday maintained there was no horse-trading attempt, but accepted that the Congress MLAs were in touch with AAP legislators. Without challenging the tape’s authenticity,
AAP leader Ashish Khetan said they wanted to form the government in the interests of Delhi.
“Political realignment is a reality in politics, but horse-trading is wrong. Even if we assume the tape is authentic, where does it suggest that monetary gains were offered by AAP in exchange of support? Political realignment is not poaching. It is a truth in the country while horse trading is fallacious. At that time, efforts were made by the BJP to form its government through horse-trading,” he said, adding that Garg was a “disgruntled element” who had been denied a party ticket.
Resignation
Hours after the controversy broke out, senior party leader from Mumbai and Kejriwal loyalist Anjali Damania announced her resignation from the party on Twitter, writing in a series of tweets:
“I quit...I have not come into AAP for this nonsense. I believed him...I backed Arvind for principles not horse-trading. I demand inquiry in 48 hrs into all these allegations. Vols (volunteers) have given their sweat & blood. It is not for the party...It is for the country.”
But AAP’s Delhi convener Ashutosh said they had no official information on it.
Later, the party’s Maharashtra unit leader Preeti Sharma Menon met Damania and said she had taken the decision as she was “very upset”.
Menon said: “I’m sure she will give the national leadership a chance to come and tell us exactly what is going on. She was very upset by the audio she heard….”
This is not the first time that the party has been hit by a leaked phone conversation. Just a few weeks back, a recorded conversation between a Kejriwal aide and a journalist was made public to target Yadav and show he was planting negative stories about AAP in the media.
The new controversy has hit the party when it was grappling with an internal feud between leaders close to Kejriwal, and Bhushan and Yadav, who have questioned the former’s style of functioning.
Amid all the turmoil, the AAP legislators launched a signature campaign against Yadav, Bhushan and Bhushan’s father Shanti Bhushan for “anti-party activities”.
The campaign was started by AAP’s Karawal Nagar MLA Kapil Mishra, who claimed he has the support of almost all MLAs.
The signature campaign demands that AAP convener Kejriwal take strict action against the trio.
Sources said the letter was originally drafted to demand the trio’s ‘expulsion’ but, after reconsideration on Tuesday night, its wording was changed to demand only ‘exemplary action’ against the rebel leaders.
Yadav & Bhushan say party is bigger than individuals
By Heena Kausar in New Delhi
A day after the top brass of the Aam Aadmi Party officially accused Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan of anti-party activities, the duo in a joint statement refuted the allegations while listing out reasons for their differences.
Amid increasing talk of Yadav and Bhushan being expelled from the party, the duo, in a joint letter to volunteers, said they hoped to work for party unity and that the organisation was much bigger than any individual.
Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan have written a letter asking volunteers to work for party unity
The rift, according to the two, actually started after the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections when Kejriwal allegedly proposed the idea of forming a government again in Delhi with the Congress’s support.
“Kejriwal was adamant on government formation. We opposed this and insisted that it would send a very wrong signal among volunteers across the country, as Congress was recently rejected by Delhi voters completely. However, Kejriwal went ahead and continued till a month prior to elections,” the letter reads.
The letter gives point-by-point clarifications to all the issues raised against them by the AAP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai.
The letter starts with a disclaimer saying that the views expressed in the letter did not include Shanti Bhushan’s views.
“In the NE meeting held on February 26, when we came to know that Arvind Kejriwal has offered his resignation from the post of national convener, we both vehemently opposed that,” they said.
Accusing Kejriwal of taking a unilateral decision not to contest Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, J&K and Haryana, the letter said: “Though, the decision of not contesting in those states proved to be right, however, question still persists over what would be the right approach to take such decisions in future.”
The leaders end by wishing a speedy recovery for Kejriwal, who is undergoing diabetes treatment in Bengaluru.
Bhushan's sister says didn’t discourage NRI supporters
By Mail Today in New Delhi
AAP leader Prashant Bhushan’s sister Shalini Gupta has denied allegations that she tried to discourage party’s NRI supporters from donating money to the party allegedly in an e-mail.
“There are no e-mails sent to the Global group in which I have asked anyone to stop donating money to the party. The e-mails which are being quoted have been taken out of context. These e-mails excerpts are from a mail conversation I had with a small group of 6-7 people in Chicago. It was in the context of adopting a constituency,” Gupta told Mail Today by phone from the United States.
“Since these reports came out, the Global group e-mail forum has received many emails which have expressed outrage,” Gupta said.
She added that straight talk and honest conversations are hallmark for an organization founded on trust, teamwork and transparency.
“I will always continue to espouse those values," she added.
+4 |