A day after a former AAP MLA accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of trying to poach six Congress MLAs to form government last year, another former Congress legislator has alleged that a senior AAP leader offered him a ministerial berth in lieu of support.
Asif Mohammed Khan, former Congress MLA from Okhla, has claimed that he held meetings with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia once and Sanjay Singh, another senior AAP leader, twice last year to discuss the issue.
Rubbishing Mr. Khan’s claim, Mr. Singh challenged him to provide evidence.
“He (Singh) says that he did not indulge in horse trading. I had one meeting with Manish Sisodia ji and two meetings with Sanjay Singh in Noida. He never offered me money, but he offered me a ministerial berth and chairmanship of different boards to five MLAs in lieu of support,” Mr. Khan said.
The former Okhla legislator added that he had recorded the talks between him and Singh and will make the conversations public.
“I will certainly make the evidence public. I am not ready to back track. Now Sanjay Singh has accpeted that he has met me,” he said.
Mr. Khan said that Mr. Singh had also instructed him not to make the conversations between the two public until anything concrete came up.
“He (Singh) said that if you are quitting the party... we are aware that contesting polls is an expensive affair. Even on that front, we will think about it.
“He also said that the conversation should not go out of the room because some senior leaders of AAP do not want that we should form the government with Congress’s support. So, till the time this does not work out the matter should not come on public platform,” Mr. Khan said.
Mr. Singh admitted to have met Mr. Khan for government formation last year, but denied that he had offered any ministerial berth in lieu of support to the party.
Mr. Khan’s claim assumes significance because the AAP had on Wednesday claimed that it was neither involved in poaching nor any kind of hors-trading.
“Using the term horse-trading is far too harsh and irresponsible. We neither lured them with money nor did we offer them with any gains. Political realignments are not new in this country.
“Political realignment is not poaching. It is a truth in the country while horse-trading is fallacious,” AAP leader Ashish Khetan had said on Wednesday.
