The Aam Adam Party (AAP) on Saturday added to its list of alleged ‘tainted’ politicians the names of Congress president Sonia Gandhi ‘for perpetuating dynastic politics’ and of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for his alleged ‘politics of hatred’. Both the leaders were also accused of shielding corrupt politicians in their party.
Addressing media persons about the decisions taken in the meeting of the National Council, AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Gopal Rai said the party was committed to ‘making politics free from corruption, criminalisation and dynastic rule’ and will work for defeating in the Lok Sabha elections ‘politicians who lead such politics’.
The AAP will ‘match’ the BJP and Congress party’s Rs. 500-crore election campaign blitzkrieg by raising a team of five lakh volunteers from February 5.
However, on Saturday Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal, who figures in the list, dared Mr. Kejriwal to prove his charge failing, which the Delhi Chief Minister must resign.
Mr. Yadav said it was not the first time the party had named Mr. Sibal. The Minister had been named even when party leaders had organised a dharna in Delhi in 2013 for a Special Investigation Team to investigate charges against 15 Union Ministers. “Ahead of Lok Sabha elections we are asking janata (people) whether tainted ministers should be returned to Parliament,’’ he said.
The AAP had alleged that Mr. Sibal had a "conflict of interest" in the Rs. 11,200 crore income tax dispute involving Vodafone for the purchase of Hutchinson’s stake in Hutchinson Essar in 2007 as one of the company was his lawyer son’s client. The Minister’s son had denied the allegations, saying the last time he had appeared for Hutchinson was in 2010 when Mr. Sibal was neither the Telecom Minister nor the Law Minister.