Gujarat polls: Kejriwal's ‘deal’ claim to spare AAP ministers a lie, says BJP

A day after Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the BJP had offered him a “deal to spare” his ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, who are embroiled in investigations by the central agencies, if AAP pulled out of next month’s Gujarat elections, BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam Sunday termed it as a “blatant lie to mislead people and malign the image of the BJP.”

“After Manish Sisodia rejected their offer to be Delhi Chief Minister by leaving AAP, they have approached me now… they have said if you leave Gujarat and don’t contest there, we will spare both Satyendar Jain and Sisodia and drop all charges against them,” Kejriwal said at an NDTV Townhall on Saturday.

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On Sunday, the BJP rubbished AAP’s allegations. “Kejriwal has misled the people of Delhi and the nation. He used Anna Hazare to come to power and later left him. He can mislead anyone to grab power,” Islam said. Elections to the 182-member Gujarat assembly are to be held in two phases: December 1 and 5. The results will be declared on December 8.
When Kejriwal was asked who made the offer, he said: “How can I name one of my own… the offer has come through them… see they (BJP) never approach directly. They go from one to another, to another, to another, to a friend, and then the message reaches you.”

‘Cases against Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain fabricated’

The AAP chief said the BJP was scared of losing both Gujarat elections and the municipal polls in Delhi. He said the saffron party had pulled out all stops to defeat AAP. The cases filed against Sisodia over Delhi’s now-revoked liquor sales policy and Jain about proxy or ‘hawala’ transactions were fabricated, Kejriwal said.

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Jain has been in jail since he was arrested in May over money-laundering allegations. The ED had arrested Jain and two others in the money-laundering case based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR lodged against the AAP leader in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Jain is accused of having laundered money through four companies linked to him. He has denied the allegations. Sisodia, on the other hand, is a prime accused in a case which involves alleged kickbacks to political leaders by private players in exchange for liquor shop licenses.