Aam Aadmi Party's sting upsets BJP ahead of government formation in Delhi

NEW DELHI: BJP’s top leadership is upset at the way the Delhi unit of the party has been caught in a sting operation trying to poach AAP MLAs in a bid to form the government in the Capital, a development that it believes has thrown a spanner in its works. "It was exactly this that the party’s top brass feared. AAP is known to function like this. How could the Delhi leaders behave so foolishly?" a central BJP leader said on Monday, after AAP went public with its video footage that showed Delhi BJP vice-president Sher Singh Dagar offering Rs 4 crore to its MLA to resign and join BJP.

PM Narendra Modi had made it clear that while efforts could be made to form the government, there should be no horse-trading. The sting operation has come as a blow to BJP’s plans to form a government, conceded the BJP leader, adding the party would now be double wary of reaching out to MLAs of Congress and AAP to win their support.

Another senior BJP leader said the party was well on its way to form the government as it did have support of some MLAs from Congress and AAP. Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay served show-cause notice to Dagar as the party insisted that he was not authorised by anybody to try and get support of AAP legislators. In the video, Dagar claimed RSS was agreeable to forming government in Delhi and that senior state leader Jagdish Mukhi was the Sangh’s choice for chief ministership.

However, with AAP planning to submit the 17-minute video footage to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, BJP leaders are now waiting to see what stand the SC will take. AAP’s plea on dissolving the Delhi assembly and holding fresh elections is also expected to be heard on Tuesday, when the five-week deadline the Supreme Court had given to the Centre to decide Delhi’s fate expires.

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit accused BJP of trying to influence MLAs of his party as well. "BJP has been exposed, but I want to question the AAP members why are they after Congress MLAs. They were on their knees in front of Congress MLAs a few days ago. Kejriwal is now desperate to come to power," Dikshit said.

Fresh elections were the only feasible option, Congress said. Party general secretary Ajay Maken urged SC to take cognizance of the matter and order fresh polls in Delhi. He found it a "mystery" as to how LG Najeeb Jung had suddenly started taking an initiative to form a government even though "there is no visible change in the ground realities of Delhi politics" since the assembly was placed under suspended animation eight months ago. "If BJP says that they are ready to form the government then the court should take cognizance of BJP trying to purchase MLAs. The court should order a fresh election in Delhi," Maken said.