Advised to join BJP or be prepared to be arrested in a month, claims AAP’s Atishi

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi on Tuesday claimed a person close to her said that she should join the BJP or be prepared to be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.

At a press conference here, Atishi claimed that besides herself, three Aam Aadmi Party leaders — Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, MLA Durgesh Pathak and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha — would also be arrested.

The Delhi minister claimed that she was told that in the coming days, the ED would conduct raids at her residence and that of her relatives.

The BJP has been rattled by the success of the INDIA bloc’s Ramlila Maidan rally on Sunday and has realised that sending Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to jail would not lead to the disintegration of the AAP, she asserted. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested on March 21 by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy of his government, was on Monday sent to judicial custody till April 15 by a city court.

The AAP has accused the BJP of wanting to impose President’s rule in Delhi by poaching its legislators and breaking the party. The AAP’s Kirari MLA Rituraj Jha claimed he was offered Rs 25 crore to join the saffron party.