'Won't let her escape': BJP fires legal notice at AAP's Atishi after claim of arrest threat and party switch offer

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said it had sent legal notice to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and minister Atishi for her claim that the saffron party approached her to join it. "We have given a legal notice to (Atishi ) to provide evidence, we will not let her escape. This time she has to answer," Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva said on Wednesday.  

Atishi on Tuesday claimed the BJP approached through a "very close" person to join it or be prepared to be arrested by the ED within a month.

Atishi claimed that she, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, MLA Durgesh Pathak, and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha would be arrested by the ED, which recently arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged liquor policy scam. 

The Delhi BJP chief, however, claimed that Atishi was "lying". The entire Aam Aadmi Party was involved in the "liquor scam" and its leaders were fighting among themselves over the apprehension about who would be the next "sacrificial lamb", he said. 

Atishi also claimed that she had been told that the central agency would conduct raids on her residence and that of her kin in the coming days. After that, she claimed, summons would be sent and arrests would be made. 

"I was approached by the BJP through a person very close to me who asked me to join the BJP to save and enhance my political career. Or I will be arrested within a month," she claimed. 

Atishi's claim came just a day after her name cropped up during a court hearing. The ED told the court that Kejriwal had said Vijay Nair, key accused in the liquor policy case, did not report to him, but to Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj.

The Delhi BJP chief said, "Since Kejriwal has stated that the excise policy case accused and AAP leader Vijay Nair, who is in jail, used to report to Atishi and Bharadwaj, the AAP leaders are fighting among them. Atishi by saving her skin has led Chadha and Pathak in trouble."