Jaitley, Vardhan deny AAP bribe allegations, say it's rubbish

Denying allegations by AAP of BJP trying to bribe MLAs to topple the Delhi government, BJP leader Harsh Vardhan called the allegations ’nonsense’. Harsh Vardhan told Firstpost that AAP’s allegations were baseless. “It’s all nonsense and completely wrong. Everyday they come up with a new lie. They can keep saying what they want to,” a visibly agitated Harsh Vardhan said. [caption id=“attachment_1371803” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Harsh Vardhan. AFP[/caption] BJP leader Arun Jaitley also rubbished the claims on his Twitter account. His tweet read, “Rubbish claims by AAP. AAP’s alternative politics includes a fundamental right to falsehood and lies.” The AAP earlier today had alleged that the BJP and Congress were plotting against its Delhi government and that the recent power crisis with the Discoms was part of a larger political conspiracy. AAP made the allegations at a press conference in the Constitution club of India and said that there was an attempt to buy out its MLAs, directly naming leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley. “Even before there is news of the power crisis, BJP is out on the streets ready to protest. How did they know that such power cuts would take place in Delhi, even before the government? As soon as Kejriwal threatened to cancel the licenses, a whole series of events starts. Jaitley gives his opinion, then Modi also talks, followed by Harsh Vardhan. There are threats that ‘sarkar gira di jayegi (the government will be toppled),” said AAP leader Sanjay Singh. “This whole game is being played by those who support Adani and Ambani’s interest. They even tried to politicise the issue of the death of the Arunachal Pradesh student. I want to ask Modi who is responsible for the incidents that took place against Northeast students in Karnataka,” he said, referring to the NE exodus. “We will start a pol-khol abhiyaan across Delhi from tomorrow to showcase the real truth behind the face of BJP,” he said. He didn’t specify exactly what would be part of this ‘abhiyaan.’ “Arun Jaitley and his few friends in the media are sitting together and playing this whole game against the AAP,” said AAP leader Ashutosh. AAP MLA from Kasturba Nagar Madan Lal was also present and he alleged that he was approached by people who claimed to be part of Arun Jaitley and Modi’s team. “On 7 December, I got a call at 12 in the night, where someone who claimed to be from Arun Jaitley’s team approached me. It was an international number but I said ‘shut up’ and hung up,“said Madanlal. “Two days after the result was declared, someone else told me since you don’t have a majority why don’t you join us. We will give you what you want. Then days before two people approached me. One person claimed to be from Gujarat and close to Narendra Modi. He told me if I get 9 more MLAs, then we will form a new front, and make you CM. In addition to this they also offered Rs 20 crore,” he said. “Then two or three days earlier, other people tried to bribe me. I was even offered post of Deputy CM and Binny is being offered as CM. Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa told me that AAP government won’t last too many days. Binny told me that the govt will collapse within 10 days and that I should rethink,” he added. However when grilled by the media on what proof he had that the men who had approached him were indeed from the BJP and linked to Jaitley or Modi, Madanlal said that he didn’t need to give evidence as he was only trying to show the true face of the BJP. “You need evidence for a criminal case. I’m not trying to file a case. I just want to showcase a certain truth to you,” he said. AAP appeared to be on the defensive when asked how they were naming senior BJP leaders. Sanjay Singh defended the allegations and instead chose to point out that BJP was quick to protest on the electricity crisis and the Khirki extension issue but had not done anything when the Danish woman was gangraped. Congress, meanwhile, questioned whether it was indeed true that so much money had been offered to bring the AAP government down. Where the AAP government is concerned, rebel MLA Binny along with JDU’s Shoaib Iqbal, and independent candidate Rambeer Shokeen had threatened to withdraw support to the government in 48 hours if the government did not fulfill it’s promises of free water, women’s security and a probe in the CWG scam on Sunday. However, earlier today Iqbal and Shokeen said that the Delhi CM had met them and agreed to their demands and that both of them were satisfied with the response. Firstpost tried to contact rebel MLA Binny on the issue, but he did not reply to our messages on calls.