Aam Aadmi Party’s rebel leader Kapil Mishra on Sunday raised fresh allegations against the party, saying that it fudged the donation proof submitted to the Election Commission. Just minutes after the “expose”, Mr. Mishra fainted and was taken to the hospital.
Addressing the media, Mr. Mishra said that the AAP had not only lied about its financial condition to the people of this country but also to the party workers, who kept believing the party convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s word that they did not have enough money to even fight the elections.
He also claimed that the party converted its black money into white through shell companies, and all of this happened with Mr. Kejriwal’s consent. He said that close associates of Delhi’s CM were running these shell companies under fake names.
He charged AAP MLA Shiv Charan Goyal with having a major role in managing these shell companies for the party and also accused another MLA Naresh Yadav’s wife, Priti Yadav, of having invested in these alleged fake companies.
Kapil Mishra, who fainted while addressing the press conference, is being taken to the RML hospital, in New Delhi on Sunday.
“ Ab yeh spasht hai, Kejriwal bhrasht hai (Now it is clear that Kejriwal is corrupt),” he said. Revealing documents of the alleged donation scam, Mr. Mishra said that AAP had over ₹45 crore in its bank account during the financial year of 2013-2014, but in its declaration to the EC they had showed an income of only around ₹9 crore.
Showing two cheques, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, he said that ₹35 crore each from two different shell firms were used for converting black money during demonetisation. “If now Arvind Kejriwal, you do not resign from your position then I will drag you by your collar and put you in Tihar Jail. This is Kapil Mishra’s promise to you,” he said.
Mr. Mishra, who was ousted from his position of Delhi’s water and tourism minister, has waged a war against the party claiming corruption charges against the party and Mr. Kejriwal.
Mr. Mishra claimed that crores or rupees were credited to AAP’s account by 16 shell companies. He alleged the registered addresses of the directors of four of these companies are the same, two have the same registered address, and they also have the same chartered accountants.
He also said most of these companies have accounts with east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar branch of Axis Bank, which was raided during demonetisation and was found to be holding black money.
“Now we know why Arvind Kejriwal was so against the demonetisation drive. He was afraid that the hawala money that he has hidden from people will be out,” Mr. Mishra said. This is the fifth day of Mr. Mishra’s indefinite hunger strike against the party. He had demanded Mr. Kejriwal to give details of the foreign trips made by five of his ‘close associates’, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha, Durgesh Pathak, Ashish Khetan and Satyendar Jain.
While Mr. Mishra was presenting the documents proving his allegation, he fainted and was taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
Doctors examining him said that Mishra was suffering from mild dehydration and weakness.
“His vitals are normal. He has just suffered because of low liquid intake and high stress,” an attending doctor said. AAP leaders lashed out at Mr. Mishra after his allegations calling this a ploy by the BJP to defame them. “Kapil Mishra is repeating exactly what the BJP has been claiming, but hasn’t been able to prove. Arvind Kejriwal left his job and the position of CM for the people of Delhi. Please stop maligning him,” senior leader Sanjay Singh said. He added: “BJP should stop hiding behind Kapil Mishra. If they want to fight us, then do it directly.”
