Kapil Mishra. PTI file photo
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday suspended former minister Kapil Mishra, soon after he took what he described as ‘evidence’ against his party bosses to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Mishra has said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is involved in a Rs 400-crore tanker scam, and named his late brother-in-law as the beneficiary of a shady land deal.
The decision to suspend Mishra, already sacked from the Cabinet on Saturday, came at a meeting of the AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC).
The party saw a BJP hand in Mishra’s charges that minister Satyendar Jain had handed over Rs 2 crore to Kejriwal at the chief minister’s residence three days ago.
Before the PAC decision, Mishra said the party was meeting only to expel him, but he would not quit the party or join the BJP. The AAP sensed a BJP conspiracy to discredit the AAP government and said Mishra was part of it.
‘He is desperate’
Describing the charges levelled on Sunday as baseless, AAP leader Sanjay Singh told reporters in the afternoon that Mishra was acting in desperation.
Singh also rubbished claims that Jain had helped Kejriwal’s relative swing a Rs 50-crore land deal. “Using Mishra as a medium, a game is being played to torment the AAP government and its ministers.
Mishra is repeating now what the BJP has been saying for the past few months,” Singh said. “Do you think Kejriwal will invite him (Mishra) to count the notes when he is taking a bribe? Tell us the name of Kejriwal’s relative who got help in the land deal,” Singh said.
Mishra accepted the challenge, and at an evening press conference, named Kejriwal’s brother-in-law, who passed away on Monday morning, as the beneficiary. The deal was brokered by Jain, Mishra claimed.
Jain, who threatened to file a defamation case against Mishra, said he could prove he was not at Kejriwal’s house on the day Mishra claimed he had handed over the money.
In a day of hectic activity on both sides, Mishra first reached the ACB office to present evidence to back his claim that Kejriwal was delaying a probe into the scam.
“The government tried to shield Sheila Dikshit time and again,” he told reporters, referring to the former chief minister, after the meeting. He said he would also approach the CBI on Tuesday.
“Jain told me he has arranged a seven-acre land deal in Chattarpur for Arvind Kejriwal’s brother-in-law’s Bansal family. Being a PWD minister, he also fudged bills of up to Rs 10 crore to benefit Kejriwal’s relative,” Mishra claimed.