New Delhi: After Delhi, now in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of conspiring to topple the Punjab government. Cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema alleged that BJP has given the name of ‘Operation Lotus’ for this. Harpal accused BJP of offering Rs 20-25 crore each to its 10 MLAs to topple the Bhagwant Mann government in the state. This comes after Kejriwal made similar allegations of the BJP trying to lure its MLAs by offering them Rs 5 crore in order to topple the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi.
AAP senior leader and cabinet minister @HarpalCheemaMLA Ji’s important press conference Live from Chandigarh https://t.co/0dgCwFp1PV
— AAP Punjab (@AAPPunjab) September 13, 2022
“Our MLAs in Punjab are being contacted. They are being contacted telephonically by some people of the BJP who were sent by the BJP’s central leadership to break our legislators away from the party,” said Cheema.
“They approached our MLAs and told them that their meeting will be arranged with big leaders in Delhi, and also offered them Rs 25 crore each,” he said.
For the past one week, attempts were being made regularly to “buy” legislators, he said.
“Seven to 10 MLAs were approached directly or indirectly by the BJP through its people,” he said while refusing to name the MLAs who were allegedly approached.
Also Read | Gujarat: Congress Is Finished, Let’s Move On, Says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
Cheema also alleged that among those people from the BJP who approached the AAP MLAs included some from Punjab and others from Delhi.
Meanwhile, The BJP’s Delhi on Tuesday demanded Arvind Kejriwal to remove from the party two AAP MLAs convicted by a local court in a case of rioting and attack on police personnel. The conviction exposes the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) true face as it has now become a party of hooligans, rioters, and the corrupt, BJP’s Delhi unit chief Adesh Gupta said in a press conference.
(With PTI Inputs)