BJP dismisses AAP's poaching allegation; calls it a bid to deflect focus from Excise policy probe

Asserting there was "no substance" in the allegation by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that its MLAs were being poached, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday dared the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit to name those it claims had reached out with offers.

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj had alleged that the BJP tried to lure over AAP MLAs in a bid to break the party.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP leaders Sudhanshu Trivedi and Parvesh Verma, dismissed the allegation claiming there was "no substance" to it.

"AAP says that their MLAs are unreachable. They are not even revealing their names. Which BJP leader is reaching out to them, they are not telling their names. Our party workers will find them if they reveal their names. We only have 8 MLAs, even if 50 of their MLAs join the BJP, we still won't be able to form the government. There is no substance in their allegations," Varma said.

Accusing the AAP of "diverting" the attention from the alleged Excise Policy scam, Varma said that the party had no answers to the questions raised by the BJP.

"We will not answer anything, because we had put forward the questions first. You only have to divert the attention from the Excise policy scam. Why did AAP not follow the recommendations of the committee? Why did they increase the commission of the L1 from 2 per cent to 12 per cent. They have failed to answer these questions. No leader of the AAP has answered this question. This is a scam over which they do not have the answers," he said.

"A party which tries to distract from the issue every day, is not answering our questions," said Trivedi.

Earlier today, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party targeted 40 of its party MLAs and was offering Rs 20 crores each.

"BJP contacted our 12 MLAs and told them to break the party. They wanted to break away 40 MLAs and were offering Rs 20 crores each... Now we are going to Mahatma Gandhi Smriti," said.

"BJP's operation lotus failed in Delhi. 53 out of 62 MLAs were present in the meeting today. Speaker is outside the country and Manish Sisodia is in Himachal. CM spoke to other MLAs over the phone and everyone said that they are with CM Kejriwal till their last breath," Bharadwaj said.

His remarks came in wake of the reports of AAP MLAs being unreachable ahead of a crucial meeting at Chief Minister Kejriwal's residence.

( With inputs from ANI )

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