‘BJP using conman as star campaigner’: AAP's swipe after Sukesh’s letter to Kejriwal

In the wake of a series of scandalous allegations made against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by jailed conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, the party has accused the BJP of using him as its “star campaigner” to win the Delhi Municipal Corporation and Gujarat Assembly polls.

Addressing reporters on Saturday (November 5), AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP, gripped by the fear of loss in the Delhi civic body and Gujarat assembly elections, has propped Chandrasekhar as its “star campaigner.”

“Chandrasekhar has become the BJP’s star campaigner and the party is fighting these elections with the support of a thug,” he said.

Also read: Satyendar Jain extorted ₹10 crore, alleges conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar

“The BJP seems to be very nervous since the schedule of state elections were announced. It is absolutely shameful how they are falsely defaming the AAP,” the AAP MLA from Greater Kailash said.

Bharadwaj’s allegations came a day after Sukesh in an open letter, asked AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a series of questions including why the AAP accepted ₹50 crore from him and offered him a Rajya Sabha seat if he was a ‘thug’ – an expression used by all the three parties to demean one another since the controversy broke out.

Earlier this week, Sukesh in a letter to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had alleged that former AAP minister Satyendar Jain had extorted ₹10 crore from him in 2019 to ensure his safety in prison.

While the BJP had called the AAP a “thug party,” Kejriwal had rubbished the claims, alleging that the BJP was using “biggest thug in the country” to deflect attention from the Morbi tragedy and win the Gujarat polls.

In his letter to Kejriwal on Friday, Sukesh accused him of forcing him to bring “20 to 30 more individuals to contribute ₹500 crores in cash to the party in return for seats and postings in AAP Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.”

He also alleged that the Delhi chief minister had attended a dinner party hosted by him in a five-star hotel along with Jain in 2016.

“Why did you attend my dinner party along with Mr Jain in 2016 at Hyatt, Bhikaji Cama Place, where I was staying after delivering ₹50 crores which I paid at Gehlot farmhouse at Asola to Mr Satyendra Jain on your instructions?” he asked.

Also read: Conman Sukesh Chandrashekar did money laundering from jail: ED tells SC

Sukesh claimed that he has evidence to prove all his allegations against Kejriwal, Jain and AAP leader Kailash Gehlot, which he has intimated to the LG in a fresh complaint.

“So hence Kejriwal ji, before pointing your finger towards me and trying to make the issue political and diverting the topic in people’s minds, now it is time you will be answerable to the law as I will submit evidence of every transaction and conversation between you, me and other associates of yours. I don’t think I will back up,” he wrote.