New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bhardwaj on Saturday alleged that the BJP was contesting elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Gujarat Assembly with the "support of jailed conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar".
Chandrashekhar has claimed that the former Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain, who is in jail in connection with an alleged money laundering case, had “extorted” money from him. The conman, who is lodged at the Mandoli jail in Delhi, had written a letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena alleging that Jain “extorted” Rs 10 crore from him in 2019 to ensure his safety in prison.
The LG forwarded the letter to the chief secretary and asked him to take action in accordance with law. Bhardwaj, addressing a press conference in New Delhi, said that the BJP was relying on him for mileage.
“Gujarat (Assembly) and Delhi (civic body) elections are pushing the BJP into a zone of extreme fear and they are relying on a conman like Sukesh Chandrasekhar for mileage,” he said. “Chandrasekhar has become the BJP’s star campaigner and the party is fighting these elections with the support of a thug,” he further alleged.
The Greater Kailash MLA claimed that after the poll schedule for the Gujarat election was announced by the Election Commission of India, the BJP is “nervous” and has been “falsely defaming the AAP”.
On Saturday, Chandrasekhar claimed in a press release that AAP had taken Rs 50 crore from him and offered him a Rajya Sabha seat. He further alleged that the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had asked him to bring 20-30 people to contribute Rs 500 crore to the party in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in 2016, The Indian Express reported.
Calling the allegations against Kejriwal “absurd”, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the BJP was “making a deal with the conman in Tihar”. “Next week, he will join the BJP in the presence of its party chief JP Nadda,” Sisodia said in a tweet.
