NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party today drew parallels between its staunch honesty and the lack of integrity in opposition parties succumbing to BJP’s muscle power and money. Lashing out at the Congress and BJP for their hand-in-hand sale-purchase of MLAs, Senior AAP Leader and MLA Dilip Pandey said, “AAP’s resilience turned Operation Lotus into Operation Bogus in Delhi and Punjab. BJP is the serial killer of democracy.
BJP tried every trick in the book to poach AAP MLAs but failed; while, Congress MLAs stand in queues in front of BJP Headquarters to strike a deal. Every vote cast for Congress ends up in BJP’s tally; no point voting for Congress candidates when they get sold so easily to BJP for 20-25 crores. BJP has bought 250 Congress MLAs so far by spending around 6,000 crores on them. Congress should not contest Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh; only AAP can look BJP in the eye and oust them from power.”
Senior AAP Leader and MLA Dilip Pandey said, “The AAP has been prophecies for a while and now they have come true. Operation Lotus failed in Delhi and the BJP is trying its mighty best to run it in Punjab. Among all these news, they have successfully run the operation in Goa. Just like in Delhi, BJP, through its dirty politics, tried to open the window of horse trading in Punjab. However, just like this, their Operation Lotus turned into Operation Bogus in Punjab.”
He continued, “It is quite baffling that the Congress continues to remain BJP’s softest target. While on one hand, BJP is not able to change the conscience of AAP MLAs by offering them Rs 20-70 crores. On the other hand, Congress MLAs are standing in queues outside the BJP headquarters to get sold. So far, BJP has traded 250 Congress MLAs which proves two essential observations. Firstly, those who do not want to vote for BJP and they vote for Congress, they are actually voting for the BJP. It is because the Congress MLAs will switch sides after getting elected in exchange of Rs 20-25 crores from BJP.
Secondly, Congress should not contest elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. If they contest elections in those states and people vote for them, the vote will directly go to BJP. They do not have what it takes to stop BJP from buying their MLAs. AAP successfully thwarted Operation Lotus in Delhi. Afterwards, the BJP started Operation Lotus in Punjab and they have contacted 12 of our MLAs so far.
They told our MLAs that they are in touch with 55 of our MLAs. They were also told that they will be meeting the top brass of the BJP to further discuss the offer. When one of our MLAs said that nothing will change even if you buy 15-20 MLAs because we have 92 MLAs in the Assembly, BJP leaders said to us to not remain in this misconception. They have not only contacted the AAP MLAs but other opposition parties as well.”
He added, “Think for yourself. Whenever the BJP could not run the mafia of dirty politics, there they are murdering the democracy through brute force and money. Yet there is complete silence. No one is raising a voice against them. No investigation is taking place. It is perceived as the pinnacle of political diplomacy but in reality, it is the murder of democracy. No investigation is being conducted to identify who owns the Rs 8 hundred crores to buy 40 MLAs in Delhi and Rs 14 hundred crores to buy 55 MLA in Punjab.
The total amount is Rs 22 hundred crores and yet the CBI-ED has not shown any intention to find where this money is kept and to whom does this money belong? It is not hard to find the money trail because the money received by Congress MLAs in Goa is yet to be kept at a safe place. Instead of useless witch hunting, if the investigation agencies actually start investigating the matter properly, they can reach till the bottom of it. Entire country will know the truth of Operation Lotus. We will get to know which BJP Office was feeding the money to topple governments in Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Manipur aur Madhya Pradesh. The matter is still active and yet the CBI-ED is doing nothing.”
Dilip Pandey said, “CBI had the time to raid the residence of Manish Sisodia and they gave a clean chit to them. However, they have not filed any case or conducted any raid to expose the Operation Lotus. The question arises that wherever BJP is losing elections and unable to form the government, they are trading MLAs from Congress and TMC. Operation Lotus is hailed as a diplomatic success of the BJP while in reality, it is a vicious pattern of serial killing of governments across the country. They form their governments going against the mandate of the people. AAP foiled the Operation Lotus thrice in Delhi and once in Punjab.”
He continued, “Why are they trying to topple our governments? It is because the AAP talks about those issues which uplift the lives of common people. The Prime Minister is losing sleep in the night because he is fearful of Shri Arvind Kejriwal. He has vigorously shaken up the BJP’s politics of fear. BJP is feeling helpless and unable to counter AAP’s growth in Gujarat which is a result of raising voice on the issue of education, healthcare, social security and social justice.
They can sense their defeat in Gujarat and they are acting out of frustration. They are sending the Police to raid AAP Offices in the midnight. They are trying to lure AAP MLAs but no agency is daring to investigate from where did the BJP got Rs 22 hundred crores to trade MLAs in Delhi and Punjab or from where did they get the money to bring Congress MLAs to BJP, which they have already bought? They have spent Rs 6 thousand crores on this.”
Pandey concluded, “I challenge BJP to put all their might, be it investigation agencies like CBI, ED or Income Tax Department or the immense amount of money you got from your friends. They still cannot stop Shri Arvind Kejriwal to win the confidence of people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh who want progress in terms of education and healthcare. We are not afraid of you and we will keep marching ahead. You can unleash Operation Lotus on each of our ministers and MLA but we will not back down. We will continue making progress. We will first swipe Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Then we will oust you from power in every state of the country.”