AAP suspends Mishra from party for ‘smear campaign’ against Kejriwal
On a day of high political drama, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday evening suspended Kapil Mishra from the party’s primary membership.
The decision was taken by its high-powered Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
“Mishra has been suspended from the party’s primary membership,” a source present at the ongoing meeting said.
The decision comes a day after Mishra levelled allegations that Kejriwal had taken Rs 2 crore in cash from Delhi minister Satyender Jain.
Mishra was removed from the post of water minister on May 6.
Earlier on Tuesday Mishra had dared the party to sack him even as he fired a fresh salvo at Kejriwal, alleging that a Rs 50 crore deal was made for the AAP chief ’s brother-in-law.
He also submitted documents to the Anti-corruption Branch (ACB) against Kejriwal in connection with the water tanker scam and said he has sought an appointment with the CBI on Tuesday to register a complaint.
Mishra, also demanded a lie detector on his allegations that he was an eyewitness to the Rs 2 crore exchanging hands between Kejriwal and Jain. He said that a lie detector test be conducted on all three.
The ousted AAP minister further said that he has sought an appointment with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday in connection with the Rs 2 crore allegations.
The Opposition parties including the BJP and Congress upped the ante on Monday renewing their call for Kejriwal to step down from the chief minister’s post.
Earlier on Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that a big conspiracy was being hatched against it by the BJP through sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra. The AAP said that Mishra was making “baseless” allegations against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal “out of desperation” after being expelled.
The AAP remarks came after Mishra submitted documents to the Anti-corruption Branch (ACB) to back his allegations that Kejriwal had delayed the probe into a Rs 400 crore tanker scam.
Hitting out at the AAP legislator over his allegations of corruption against Kejriwal, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said Mishra had himself written a letter to the ACB in September last year, saying that under pressure, the antigraft body was trying to implicate the chief minister in the water tanker scam. “A game of exploitation is being played against the AAP. The BJP is hatching a conspiracy against the AAP through Mishra,” Singh told reporters here.
Singh claimed that Mishra was repeating what the BJP had been trying to allege in connection with the water tanker scam.
“Mishra’s allegations are laughable. I want to ask him if Kejriwal had called him up before accepting the ‘bribe’,” he said referring to the sacked minister’s claims that PWD Minister Satyender Jain had allegedly handed over of Rs 2 crore to the AAP supremo.
At the press conference, the AAP showed a letter written by Mishra to the ACB in 2016 saying the agency was trying to target Kejriwal in the alleged water tanker scam even when his name was not mentioned anywhere in the evidence. Singh accused Mishra speaking the BJP’S language, adding that “AAP can never compromise with corruption. And now they are accusing us”.
Meanwhile in a late night tweet Kejriwal said: “Truth will triumph, its beginning will be made during Tuesday’s special session of the Delhi Assembly.”
In a fresh round of allegations against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyender Jain, ousted Water Minister Kapil Mishra on Monday claimed that Jain was involved in helping a relative of Kejriwal – the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor – settle a Rs 50 crore land deal for a farmhouse in Delhi’s Chhattarpur area.
Mishra on Monday said that he has sought an appointment with the Central Bureau of Investigation for Tuesday to register a complaint, and will ensure an FIR is filed in this regard.
“Satyendar Jain told me in a private conversation that he had settled a Rs 50 crore land deal for a seven acre farmhouse in Chhattarpur in favour of Kejriwal’s brother-in-law’s Bansal family. Being the Public Works minister, Jain also fudged bills up to Rs 10 crore in the department to benefit Kejriwal’s relative,” Mishra alleged on Monday.
Earlier in the morning, Mishra submitted documents to the Anti-corruption Branch (ACB) here against Kejriwal in connection with the alleged water tanker scam.
Mishra told reporters that he has sought an appointment with the CBI for Tuesday to register a complaint in the same issue.
ACB chief M K Meena said that the Bureau would record Mishra’s statement and only after that the law will take its own course.
Meena further said that the sacked minister was yet to file a complaint on the alleged dubious transaction of Rs 2 crore between Kejriwal and Jain.
Meanwhile, rejecting speculations of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mishra said he will never leave the AAP, adding in the same breath that he will also never join the BJP in his life.
He further claimed that since he has made accusations against Kejriwal, he has been receiving death threats from those who are close to the Delhi Chief Minister.
“I dare the party to prove the same, adding that whoever raises voice against AAP leaders, he or she is called “a BJP agent.
“It was only I in the AAP who strongly opposed the BJP and the Narendra Modi government’s policies,” added Mishra.
Voicing his opinion about the Chief Minister’s refusal to step down, Mishra claimed that Kejriwal does not want to resign.
“Kejriwal’s weakness is his chair. He does not want to leave his chair. I want to ask Kejriwal if he will resign the day when Jain is sent to jail in a corruption case,” Mishra stated.
Talking about his future with the party, which was decided upon by the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting on Monday evening, Mishra said: “There are four-five persons in the AAP’S PAC who are indulging in corruption. I have got to know that the PAC will throw me out of the party in the evening.”
After the decision to sack Mishra’s primary party membership was announced by the AAP PAC, a defiant Mishra took to Twitter to express his feelings.
“I will not accept the decision of PAC which takes the same in a closed room. The AAP is not the party of four to five persons and it is the people’s party and people will decide who should remain in AAP. So Satyendra Jain is giving clean chit to Arvind Kejriwal ji and Arvind Kejriwal ji giving clean chit to Satyendra Jain. Simply wow,” Mishra’s tweet said.
The former Water minister also released an email ID – letscleanaap@gmail.com – where he said people can complain about alleged corruption in the AAP.