Delhi BJP sues AAP’s Atishi after she claims she proposed switch

Atishi claims BJP offered her career change

New Delhi:

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has issued a defamation notice to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and minister Atish after she alleged that the BJP had approached her with a resignation request. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva told the media today that they have issued a notice and asked Ms. Atish to make a public apology.

“Atish has failed to provide evidence as to who contacted her, how and when. AAP is going through a crisis in Delhi and that is why they are making such baseless accusations out of frustration. But we She will not be allowed to get away with this,” he said.

At a press conference yesterday, Ms Atish said: “The BJP approached me through a very close person. They asked me to join the BJP and said it would save my political career. They threatened , if I don’t convert, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) will arrest me within a month.”

She also claimed that she and three other AAP leaders – Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP MP Raghav Chadha and party MLA Durgesh Pathak – might be arrested in the coming months.

She said people who approached her on behalf of the BJP said the ruling party was “determined to suppress everyone in the BJP”.

“First, they put everyone in the AAP leadership behind bars. Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and current chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have all been arrested. The plan of the BJP is to make more arrests in the next two months Four AAP leaders. They will arrest me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Raghav Chadha,” she said. Sanjay Singh has been granted bail and will be released today.

Mr Sachdeva today challenged the Delhi minister to submit her mobile phone to the investigating agency to prove her claim.

A lawyer for the Delhi BJP said the party had issued a defamation notice to Atish asking her to withdraw her statement, which he termed “false, defamatory and fabricated”. Lawyers said they would take additional legal action if she could not prove her claims.