New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Minister Atishi made startling allegations on Tuesday, claiming that she was approached by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with an ultimatum to join their ranks or face imminent arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the days to come.
“The BJP, through one of my close aides, approached me to join their party to save my political career, and if I do not join the BJP, then in the coming month, I will be arrested by the ED,” Atishi said during a presser.
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- Atishi accused the BJP of attempting to coerce her into joining their party to purportedly safeguard her political future. She claimed that a BJP emissary conveyed to her that failure to comply with their demand would result in her arrest by the ED in the forthcoming month.
- Atishi slammed the BJP-led central government, accusing it of resorting to intimidation tactics by exploiting investigative agencies. She vowed that the AAP would not succumb to such pressures and affirmed their commitment to upholding the principles of democracy and constitutional values.
“I want to tell the BJP that we will not be scared of you. We are the soldiers of Arvind Kejriwal. We are aides of Bhagat Singh. We will continue to save the Constitution and will work to give the people a better life under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal,” she said
- Atishi forewarned that in the lead-up to the general elections, several more AAP leaders, including Raghav Chadha and Saurabh Bharadwaj, would face arrest at the hands of the central probe agency.
- The ED, in its submission to the court, highlighted statements made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his custody, emphasizing his purported interactions with AAP’s former communication-in-charge, Vijay Nair. The agency underscored discrepancies in Kejriwal’s responses and his alleged withholding of digital device passwords, hindering evidence collection.
- The Rouse Avenue Court recently remanded Kejriwal to judicial custody until April 15 in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy. While Kejriwal’s name initially surfaced in the ED’s chargesheet, he was not directly named in the FIRs filed by the agency or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Atishi’s allegations and the subsequent developments underscore the intensifying political turmoil ahead of the upcoming general elections.
