New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party mounted a strong defence of its candidates, involved in a sting by a web portal last week, saying it would file a criminal defamation case against mediasarkar.com which had carried out the operation allegedly showing the party candidates willing to take cash illegally.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said after watching the 14-hour raw footage it was found that the CD released to the media had been doctored.
Accusing media portal head Anuranjan Jha of not being truthful, Yadav said the video shown had been edited in such a way that it put the AAP in a bad light. “No conclusion can be drawn on the basis of the CD shown,“ he added.
Yadav said it was found that several parts of the conversations had been deleted and the allegations made by the portal had nothing to do with what was being said on tape.
AAP leader Manish Sisodia said Jha had not done the sting operation in the interest of the country, but just as a “middleman for the Congress and BJP."
Since the portal had submitted the raw tapes to the Central Election Commission, the AAP leaders said, any of its candidates found guilty by the commission would be made to withdraw.
Sisodia said all attempts were being made to tarnish the image of his party candidates. “I have myself complained to the police about unknown people who were donning white caps distributing Rs 1,000 notes in the Patparganj village.“
On the sting operation, Yadav said the party was fully convinced that all of its candidates, including former TV anchor Shazia Ilmi and poet Kumar Vishwas, were “clean.“
“There is nothing against any of our candidates,“ he said, adding, “the party's growing popularity had rattled several people who were now trying to malign its image.”
Meanwhile, the AAP and the portal have filed complaints against each other at Indirapuram police station here. Jha, CEO of mediasarkar.com, in a written complaint against the AAP, alleged he was getting threatening calls from its activists.
AAP leader Vishwas went to the cops alleging criminal conspiracy.
Next: Rs 1,400 cr paid as 'bribe' to media
Rs 1,400 cr paid as 'bribe' to media
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday alleged that Rs 1,400 crore was distributed in some media houses to defame the party.
His statement on Twitter came in the wake of a sting operation by media portal mediasarkar.com, which showed some AAP members allegedly accepting donations without proper verification.
The AAP chief further tweeted, “There r a no of media houses n journos who r honest but there r a few blacksheep, who have sold their soul."
In another tweet Kejriwal suggested, “This CD episode has clearly shown who r the blacksheep within media. Guess whch of these chnnels wud have got how much of Rs 1400 crores?"
