A day after a former Aam Aadmi Party legislator accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of trying to poach six Congress MLAs to form the government, former Congress legislator Asif Mohammad Khan alleged that senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh had offered him a ministerial berth in return for support.
Mr. Khan claimed he had a sting tape of Mr. Singh, which he would make public soon.
In fact, Mr. Khan told The Hindu that he was in possession of another sting audio clip pertaining to what he claimed were ‘irregularities in the AAP’s ticket distribution process’, which would also be made public soon.
“What is the difference between offering a post or money in lieu of support? Sanjay Singh offered me a ministerial berth and assured me that the remaining five MLAs would be given chairmanship of various boards if we supported the AAP from outside,” Mr. Khan, former MLA from Okhla, said.
According to Mr. Khan, he was first approached by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia followed by two consecutive meetings with Mr. Singh. The meetings are alleged to have taken place at the residence of “a senior journalist” in Noida.
Mr. Khan also said that Mr. Singh had instructed him not to make the conversations between the two public until anything concrete came up. While, Mr. Singh admitted to have met Mr. Khan for the government formation last year, he denied that he had offered any ministerial berth in lieu of support to the party.
“I'm happy that Mr. Singh at least accepted that he met me; as far as his allegations of advertising the said sting, but not coming out with it over the last six months are concerned, I would like to clarify that I had merely spoken of the existence of such a sting and left it at that,” Mr. Khan added.
On his part, Mr. Singh challenged Mr. Khan to release the sting and claimed that the sting was being projected in a negative light to tarnish his and his party’s image.
“He has been claiming that such a sting exists for the last six months; why doesn’t he just go ahead and make it public?” Mr. Singh asked.
Sanjay Singh challenges former Congress legislator from Okhla, Asif Mohammad Khan, to release the sting
