In another example of Modi-led Indian government using its probe agencies to intimidate the opposition, it has come to fore that four more leaders of Aam Aadmi Party have been threatened to join the BJP or be prepared to be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.
According to Kashmir Media Service, this was disclosed by senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi at a press conference in the Indian capital today. She said that a person close to her and associated with the BJP asked her to join the saffron party or be prepared to be arrested by the ED within a month. She said that besides herself, three AAP leaders — Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, MLA Durgesh Pathak and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha — would also be arrested.
Atishi said that she was told that in the coming days, the ED would conduct raids at her residence and that of her relatives. She asserted that this move has been orchestrated by the BJP in an attempt to dismantle AAP’s leadership hierarchy.
The BJP has been rattled by the success of the INDIA bloc’s Ramlila Maidan rally on Sunday and has realised that sending Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to jail would not lead to the disintegration of the AAP, she asserted.
She concluded by saying that the BJP’s strategy was clear to systematically target the leadership of AAP, thereby weakening its foundation and prospects ahead of the upcoming electoral battle.
Notably, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP main leader Arvind Kejriwal, arrested on March 21 by the ED in connection with an alleged money laundering case, was on Monday sent to judicial custody till April 15 by a city court.
The AAP has been saying the BJP wants to impose President’s rule in Delhi by poaching its legislators and breaking the party.—KMS
