Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena on Tuesday addressed questions on whether her boss and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will tender his resignation or not. The Delhi minister said that Arvind Kejriwal has not yet been convicted in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
To substantiate her point further, the AAP leader cited the Representation of People Act. The Act says that if a leader has a conviction for a period of more than two years, then they cannot remain a public representative.
She added that Kejriwal commands an overwhelming majority in the Delhi Assembly so there is no reason for him to tender his resignation. She further alleged that if Kejriwal resigns today, it will be easy for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to overthrow the state governments led by opposition parties.
"Arvind Kejriwal has not been convicted... Arvind Kejriwal enjoys the overwhelming majority of the Delhi Assembly, so there is no reason for Arvind Kejriwal to resign. If Arvind Kejriwal resigns today, then, it will be a very simple and straightforward solution for the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple the opposition governments," she said.
Not only this, she also claimed that before the Lok Sabha elections, four more AAP leaders will be arrested. These leaders are Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Raghav Chadha.
She furthermore alleged that the BJP approached her through one of her close aides, asking her to join the saffron party to save her political career. "BJP through one of my close aides approached me to join their party to save my political career and if I do not join the BJP, then, in the coming one month I will be arrested by ED," she alleged.
Marlena also claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) named her and Saurabh Bharadwaj in the court on the basis of a statement available with the ED and the CBI for the past one-and-a-half years.
"Yesterday, the ED took Saurabh Bharadwaj and my name in the court, on the basis of a statement which is available with ED and CBI for one-and-a-half years, this statement is in the chargesheet of ED. This statement is also in the chargesheets of the CBI, so what was the reason for raising this statement?" she asked.
She said that the ED raised this statement after such a long time because the BJP is planning to put AAP's next line of leadership behind bars. She further alleged: "The reason for raising this statement was that now the BJP feels that despite Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendra Jain being in jail, the Aam Aadmi Party is still united and strong. Now, they are planning to put the next line of leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party in jail."
Replying to Atishi's allegations, BJP leader RP Singh called claims that the BJP approached her as "baseless". ""I too can make such baseless allegations. I too can say that Saurabh Bharadwaj called me up and requested me to protect them from Arvind Kejriwal who wants to put them behind bars and make Sunita Kejriwal the CM," he said.
Singh said that this is AAP's internal tussle which is coming out in public. He also said that the fight for the CM post has begun in AAP, wherein Sunita Kejriwal and Arvind Kejriwal are on one side and Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi on the other.
"This is their internal tussle which is coming out again and again in different manners. The truth is that action will be taken against all whose names are involved in the matter...It is clear that the fight for the CM post has begun in AAP. Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi are on one side & Sunita Kejriwal and Arvind Kejriwal are on the other side," Singh said.