New Delhi:

Union Minister Hardeep Puri said on Tuesday night that there was “no vacancy” in the BJP, just hours after Aam Aadmi Party leader Aadish claimed that she had been offered to jump ship and “save my political career” proposal. “…They threatened that the Enforcement Directorate would arrest me if I did not change my stance,” a senior AAP leader said this morning.

Mr Puri hit back, referring to the alleged liquor policy scam that had shaken the AAP and the opposition India Bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “We will not create trouble for ourselves by accepting her into our party at a time when the entire AAP is involved in the liquor scam,” he said.

“We have no vacancies for political activists like Atishi…” Mr Puri said.

After Atishi said she had been appointed to replace the AAP with the BJP, the urban development minister firmly refused. She said she was told that the saffron party was “determined to suppress everyone in the (Aam Aadmi Party)”.

Read | Atishi claims BJP proposal, says 4 AAP leaders are about to be arrested

“First, they put everyone in the AAP leadership in jail… Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh), and current chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP’s plan is to arrest four more AAP leaders in the next two months. They will arrest me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Raghav Chadha,” she said.

Tensions between the AAP and the BJP have grown over the past few months, especially after the central probe agency began probing the alleged scam over Delhi’s liquor excise policy.

Former deputy chief minister Sisodia was arrested in February last year and remains in jail.

Mr. Singh was arrested in October on money laundering charges related to the fraud. He was released on bail earlier today after spending six months in jail without trial.

Read | Sanjay Singh gets bail after spending 6 months in jail in liquor policy case

Former Delhi health minister Jain was also arrested, albeit in a separate case.

However, the biggest arrest took place on March 21; Chief Minister Kejriwal, whom the education ministry described as a “ringleader”, was detained after the Delhi High Court refused arrest protection.

AAP has accused the BJP of using central agencies like ED to file false corruption cases and harass opposition leaders ahead of the elections starting on April 19.

The BJP refuted the claims, insisting that the education ministry and other agencies, including income tax officials, acted independently and in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anti-corruption drive.

Atishi has been at the forefront of AAP’s fightback since the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, whom the ED described as the “kingpin” of the alleged liquor policy scam.

Read | Kejriwal was kept in a 14×8 feet cell.See what all courts allow

She said the BJP believes the AAP will split after Kejriwal’s arrest. “But after Sunday’s rally (at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan), the BJP decided that arresting four leaders was not enough,” she said.

She claimed that she had inside information and the ED might raid her and her relatives’ homes before arresting her, but declared, “We are Kejriwal’s soldiers… and will not be intimidated by the threats of the BJP.” .”

Input from ANI

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