Mishra vs Kejriwal: BJP demands Delhi CM quit; AAP stands by its chief
Mishra said he is one of the founding members of AAP and will always be in the party's inner circle.
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kapil Mishra, a day after being ousted from the cabinet, on Sunday accused Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain of giving Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Rs 2 crore in cash.
"Such things happen in politics, Kejriwal told me," Mishra said in a press conference on Sunday.
Mishra also met the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Sunday, and ‘revealed’ all details to him about the alleged water tanker scam.
Earlier on Sunday morning Mishra had tweeted, "I have witnessed HIM taking illegal cash.. have shared all details with Lt. Gov. I cannot keep quiet anymore."
He also flatly ruled out any possibility of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying he is one of the founding members of AAP and will always be in the party's inner circle.
"I am one of the founding members of AAP and will always be in the party. Those who are corrupt will be sacked from the party" Mishra told the reporters in Delhi.
"His allegations are not even worth responding to. They are absurd and not supported by facts," said Manish Sisodia, Delhi Deputy CM responding to Mishra's allegations.
AAP leader HS Phoolka denied the allegations on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "I don't know anything regarding this, because I was in a meeting. But I am not going to accept that Kejriwal has taken money from somebody. This is highly unacceptable," Phoolka said.
On Saturday, shortly after being removed from the Delhi Cabinet, Mishra said he may have been axed for saying he would submit the names of those people involved in the tanker scam to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB).
"It has nothing to do with the MCD polls, and till now, I have not received any official confirmation so far. But I met Arvind Kejriwal this morning, and I said that it has been a year since the report on the tanker scam was tabled and no action has been taken," Mishra told ANI.
"I had told him that I will submit the names of the responsible persons to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB)," he added.
The Congress was quick to comment on the tectonic infighting within the AAP. Congress leader Ajay Maken highlighted that it is the public of Delhi who is suffering the most, as governance is in total paralysis in the national capital.
"The common man is suffering because of the governance paralysis which is going on in Delhi," Congress leader Ajay Maken told ANI.
Mishra said he would expose the names involved in the tanker scam on Sunday. However, sources close to Kejriwal claim that Mishra did not meet the Chief Minister and neither had he submitted any papers related to the tanker scam.
"I have also written a letter to the ACB and have an sought appointment from them. I will expose everyone involved in the scam and will apprise the ACB," he added. He also denied that he was ousted for supporting AAP leader Kumar Vishwas.
Meanwhile, BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari on Sunday lauded Mishra for showing courage, while asserting that Kejriwal had surpassed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in terms of corruption.
"The whole of Delhi is in a state of shock after Kapil Mishra's revelation. The chief ministers of all the states must also be in a state of shock following this. It is not an allegation, but a statement of a witness. I would like to thank him for the courage that he has shown by raising his voice against corruption," Tiwari told the media in Delhi.
Tiwari further said that Mishra had raised this issue before the chief minister earlier and asked him to apologise to the party for taking money from Satyendra Jain. Mishra tweeted that he was the only minister who has not come under the CBI scanner and has not been charged with corruption. This decision came soon after the AAP suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP in the recently concluded MCD polls.
Denying allegations against Kejriwal, party leader Kumar Vishwas on Sunday said that he had worked with Kejriwal and he could not imagine labelling him as corrupt. "Even his enemies will not believe in these allegations," he added.
But sticking to his allegation against Jain on Sunday, Mishra said, "The day Satyendra Jain will go to jail, everything would be revealed. People who indulge in corruption and those who protect the corrupt should be removed from the party. I have submitted the evidence, now the law will take its course."
"The time we lost MCD polls, they said that we faced the defeat due to tampering of EVMs. As soon as I wrote the letter to the ACB, they started targeting me," he added.
Recently, a rift developed within the party after Okhla AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that Vishwas was planning a coup against Kejirwal. Vishwas threatened to quit the party before Kejriwal and other senior AAP leaders managed to assuage his hurt feelings and appointed him in charge of the AAP's affairs in Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, MLAs Rajendra Gautam and Kailash Gahlot have been included in the Delhi Cabinet.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "Water management was not up to the mark. Kapil Mishra made a lot of effort. The Chief Minister decided to bring in Kailash Gahlot in his place."
He added that two persons have been included in the Cabinet now, Kailash Gahlot and Rajendra Gautam for posts which were vacant.
Speculation and rumours, however, are afloat that axing of Mishra from the Delhi Cabinet was an attempt by Chief Minister Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia to send a veiled message across to the Vishwas camp to quell any sort of dissent.
Rumors abound that the AAP is currently bifurcated into two camps, one led by Kejriwal and the other by Kumar Vishwas. The political impact of Saturday's axing of a key associate and minister is yet to unravel.