The essence of the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) ideology finds a new face in Atishi Marlena, who adopts confrontational style of politics practiced by Arvind Kejriwal.
The ideology seems unassailable even as its leader Arvind Kejriwal finds himself incarcerated in Delhi's Tihar Jail after his custody with Enforcement Directorate (ED) is over. Kejriwal's unmistakable political style, characterized by the “Coot and Scoot” strategy, continues to resonate within the party, with steadfast supporters rallying behind their principles in his absence.
In a dramatic turn of events, Atishi Marlena, a prominent minister in the Delhi government, took centerstage, echoing Kejriwal's confrontational approach by accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to coerce her into switching allegiances. At a press conference reminiscent of Kejriwal's demeanour, Atishi alleged that the BJP had made overtures through a trusted intermediary, proposing her defection to evade potential ED investigation and subsequent jail term. Furthermore, she asserted that the BJP harbors intentions to target four prominent AAP leaders of second line, including herself, for imminent arrest in the ensuing months. She claimed to have information through her sources that Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chaddha, MLA Durgesh Pathak and her colleague in Delhi cabinet Saurabh Bhardwaj would be arrested by ED in a couple of months.
“The BJP has approached me through someone very close. They have asked me to join the BJP and said this will save my political career. They have threatened that if I don't switch over, ED (Enforcement Directorate) will arrest me within a month,” she told the media.
She said the person who approached her on behalf of the BJP had said that the ruling party had “made up its mind on crushing everyone in AAP”.
“First, they put everyone in AAP's leadership in jail. Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and now Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been arrested. 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.
The BJP, Atishi said, had thought that the party would splinter after Arvind Kejriwal's arrest. “But after the rally in Ramlila Maidan Sunday, the BJP thinks the arrest of four leaders was not enough,” she said.
When Atishi posted on X about her announcement of a ‘Bombshell Expose' last evening, political observers predicted accurately what accusations might be read out in Tuesday's presser. Her accusations elicited swift rebuttals from the BJP, which vehemently denied any such coercive tactics and questioned the veracity of her claims. Shehzad Poonawalla, a party spokesperson, refuted Atishi's narrative, highlighting Kejriwal's prior allegations against the BJP before his arrest, insinuating a pattern of unsubstantiated accusations from the AAP camp.
“The courts have denied bail and relief to Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, Vijay Nair and Manish Sisodia. They say it's vendetta politics, are they implying courts are doing vendetta? Are they implying that the courts are hand in glove with the BJP and are orchestrating this? If they have all the evidence in their command why don't the courts give them relief? This is the same party which said a few months ago that ₹800 crore had been kept by the BJP, they are breaking our party we have an audio tape… we are going to disclose it… but where is that audio tape?… This party has the track record of making the most number of lies and the most number of untruthful statements…,” Poonawala said.
Ram Kumar Kaushik is a seasoned journalist with over 25 years of experience across mediums. The architect of this news website, he is also a consultant with several media groups. He was formerly the group managing editor of ITV Network (NewsX, India News and The Sunday Guardian) and its digital products.
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