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Anonymous callers had approached 10 AAP MLAs of Punjab by stating that they were calling on behalf of the top leadership of BJP and offered them ₹25 crore each to join the BJP, a two-page FIR has said.
Anonymous callers had approached 10 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs of Punjab by stating that they were calling on behalf of the top leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and offered them ₹25 crore each to join the BJP, a two-page First Information Report (FIR) registered in connection with the alleged ‘Operation Lotus’ in Punjab has said.
The complainants — Jaikishan Rodi from Garhshankar, Rupinder Happy from Bassi Pathana, Sheetal Angurai from Jalandhar West, Raman Arora from Jalandhar Central, Principal Budhram from Budhladla, Kuljeet Randhawa from Dera Bassi, Manjit Singh from Bilaspur, Nihal Singh from Wala, Dinesh Chaddha from Rup Nagar and Master Lagseer Singh from Bhucho Mandi — were approached by the said callers.
The FIR, a copy of which is with The New Indian, stated these 10 MLAs had got calls from people, who claimed to be BJP leaders.
“During the past one week, the complainants have received telephonic calls from different people who claimed to members of the BJP and were calling on behalf of top BJP leadership. The persons who made the calls also offered ₹25 crore and ministerial posts if the complainants agreed to leave AAP and join the BJP,” said the FIR.
“They offered to make arrangements for the meeting with senior leaders of their party for future discussions,” it added. The FIR was filed under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Sections 171-B and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Police Station State Crime, SAS Nagar on September 14. It was later transferred to the vigilance department of the state.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said, “I have been reiterating that the BJP is running ‘Operation Lotus’ in every state of the country to buy out MLAs. It is not possible that MLAs are joining the BJP on their own.”
“Some are being threatened with frivolous CBI-ED raids and others are offered money. Yesterday, we got to know that they are offering ₹25 crore in Punjab as well,” AAP national convenor alleged.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann also had said that the AAP MLAs in Punjab are dedicated representatives. “Our MLAs are dedicated to the party. I want to tell the BJP that our MLAs are not going to get lured by your offers,” said Mann.
Earlier, at least a dozen AAP MLAs in Delhi had made similar allegations against the BJP leaders. They had claimed getting an offer of ₹25 crore each, if they broke away from the party and joined the BJP. Multiple press conferences were held by the AAP leaders regarding this claim. However, none of the MLAs ever revealed the name of the persons who approached them.
