Kumar Vishwas says BJP offered him CM's post to switch over

Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Saturday claimed that a Bharatiya Janata party member of Parliament had offered that he would be made the chief minister of Delhi if he joined the saffron party to help it form government

“On August 19, a BJP MP, who happens to be a good friend, visited me along with other party leaders. During talks he made an offer that I switch to BJP and in return I would be made the CM and that the higher-ups were aware of the move. The BJP MP said if I agreed with his proposal he would take me to his senior leaders. I humbly declined it,” Vishwas said.

Vishwas, however, did not name the MP or the BJP leaders who visited the poet-cum-politician at his Ghaziabad residence and added that he did not wish to pursue the matter as he had declined the offer.

“AAP has consistently said that BJP in its desperation to form government has been using all tricks to approach our leaders but failed. AAP has provided evidence whenever a specific news has broken out. Kumar Vishwas has done the right thing in going public.

AAP requests BJP to drop politics of manipulation and restore democratic rights of people by joining call for elections. Let people decide,” the party tweeted.

This is not the first time that AAP has alleged that its leaders are being poached by the BJP. It has accused the saffron party of approaching its MLAs for help to form the government in Delhi.

Vishwas’ remarks came amid fresh speculation about government formation in Delhi with the the Aam Aadmi Party cautioning the Lt Governor against initiating any “unconstitutional” move by inviting BJP to take a shot at power as the party does not have the required numbers.

AAP had won 28 seats in its debut assembly elections and had later formed the government with outside support from Congress’s eight MLAs.

BJP, along with its ally Akali Dal's one MLA, had won 32 seats in the 70-member assembly. The number of BJP MLAs has come down to 28 as three party legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma have been elected to Lok Sabha.

The government led by Arvind Kejriwal had resigned on February 14 after the party’s pet project, the Janlokpal Bill, could not be passed due to opposition from BJP and Congress. President’s Rule was imposed in Delhi on February 17.

The Lt Governor had not favoured dissolution of the 70-member Delhi assembly as recommended by the council of ministers headed by Kejriwal and kept the assembly in suspended animation.