Punjab Police on Wednesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) to probe into Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tried to bribe its MLAs.
The FIR has been registered under under section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Sections 171-B and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Police Station State Crime, SAS Nagar.
Official Spokesperson of Punjab Police said that the Police have registered an FIR based on prima facie basis and investigation has been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau as per standard guidelines.
The AAP had earlier accused the saffron party of trying to bring down the Bhagwant Mann government by trying to break away MLAs through “cash inducements and threats”.
Punjab’s finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema alleged that the BJP was using central agencies as well as money power to woo the AAP MLAs as part of its ‘Operation Lotus’, which in the past it has tried in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Delhi, and Rajasthan.
“Offers of up to Rs 25 crore have been made to our MLAs to break away from AAP. They have been told that ‘bade bau ji se milwayenge’. These MLAs have also been offered big posts. They were told that if you get more MLAs along, you would be given up to Rs 75 crore,” said Cheema.
Terming the AAP’s allegations a “ridiculous joke”, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh demanded a CBI investigation into the accusations and said a similar tactic was adopted by AAP in Delhi, which ultimately “proved to be a hoax”.
“It is the most ridiculous joke that AAP is playing on Punjabis for the simple reason that they want to deflect the people’s attention from gross corruption the AAP government has done in liquor policy in Punjab,” said Chugh, according to news agency PTI.
The Punjab Congress had demanded that the AAP government get the issue probed by an independent investigating agency under the supervision of the High Court. It also asked AAP to produce evidence against the BJP on the allegations of horse trading in the state. State Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said if the AAP is really truthful about the allegations, then why it was not registering a case in the matter. “There is strong probability of AAP imploding in Punjab with MLAs feeling suffocated, disillusioned and alienated as the power was being wielded and enjoyed by outsiders,” he said.
Hence, the party is trying to make an excuse as it did in Delhi by levelling similar allegations and nothing came out of those allegations there, he stated.
(With PTI inputs)
Read all the Latest Politics News and Breaking News here