Bribery charges: Kejriwal says 'Truth will triumph', Mishra suspended from AAP
New Delhi: Under intense attack, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday night indicated that he would answer on Tuesday the graft allegations levelled against him by Kapil Mishra, who was suspended from the Aam Aadmi Party.
"Truth will triumph. Its beginning will be made during the special session of the Delhi Assembly tomorrow," Kejriwal tweeted amid turmoil in his party.
His tweet came as Mishra, who was sacked by Kejriwal from his Cabinet last Saturday, intensified his attack on the AAP supremo, alleging that a Rs 50 crore deal had been arranged for the Chief Minister's brother-in-law.
Mishra, who had on Sunday accused Kejriwal of taking Rs 2 crore cash from his cabinet colleague Satyendra Jain, also submitted documents to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) against the Chief Minister in connection with the alleged water tanker scam.
He said he has sought an appointment with the CBI on Tuesday to register a complaint.
Capping the day of dramatic developments, the AAP's high-powered Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chaired by Kejriwal tonight suspended Mishra from the party's primary membership.
Both Jain and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia hit back at Mishra, saying he had "lost his mental balance" and levelling "baseless allegations".
"PAC is going on, even the embers in the funeral pyre of someone, have not gone cold, and an allegation is being made in his name. Has the humanity died? Such baseless charge. Get some evidence," Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.
Mishra in a series of tweets also targeted Kejriwal and Jain, as more bitterness from the two sides, came out in the open.
"Bahumat ka khel kheliye, kal mujhe khub galiya dilwana, lekin jaanch ka samna karna hi hoga" (Play the game of majority, get me reviled tomorrow, but must face probe),"
Mishra tweeted hours after the suspension.
He also attached Kejriwal's tweet that said, "Truth will triumph. Its beginning will be made during the special session of the Delhi Assembly tomorrow".
"Awesome response to 'Lets Clean AAP campaign' – received more than 150 corruption complaints in last two hours.
"Kejriwal has been doing, I am doing and whatever Gadkari, Jaitley, Sibal have been doing, is being done by Kejriwal.
"Satyendar Jain is a billionaire while I have no money to hire a lawyer. Will file a case in CBI tomorrow," Mishra said.
Jain today categorically rejected Mishra's charge, saying "no deal took place" between him and Kejriwal and this just an "attempt to defame the AAP".
"He (Mishra) says Kejriwal's brother-in-law was to get the favour from a deal. It is shameful and disgusting. The person who has died today (brother-in-law), he is making allegation about a man who is dead," Jain said.
A defiant Mishra, in his verbal volleys on the Twitter, after his suspension, went on to elaborate his earlier tweets.
"First FIR will be on cash deal between Satyendra Jain and Arvind Kejriwal Ji.
"Second FIR will be on How Satyendra Jain has benefited close relatives of Arvind Kejriwal in illegal land deals.
"Information related to third FIR has been received today through 'Lets Clean AAP Campaign'" he claimed.
The AAP, earlier in the day also alleged that a big conspiracy was being hatched against it by the BJP through Mishra and said Chief Minister Kejriwal would not resign over the "baseless allegations".
The party asserted that was Mishra was making such allegations against Kejriwal "out of desperation" after being expelled from the Cabinet. The remarks came after Mishra, the former water minister, today submitted documents to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to back his allegations that Kejriwal had delayed the probe into a Rs 400 crore tanker scam.
"A game of exploitation is being played against the AAP. The BJP is hatching a conspiracy against the AAP through Mishra," AAP leader Sanjay Singh told reporters during a press conference here.
Hitting out at Mishra over his allegations of corruption against Kejriwal, Singh claimed Mishra had himself written a letter to the ACB in September last year, saying that the anti-graft body was trying to implicate the chief minister in the water tanker scam under pressure even when his name was not mentioned in the evidence.
He said the BJP and the Congress do not have moral right to raise questions over the AAP's "honesty" as people know how many alleged scams--2G scam, coal scam, DDCA corruption case--occurred during both parties' rules.
Mishra had yesterday accused Kejriwal of taking Rs 2 crore from his cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain, a charge refuted by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Singh, flanked by AAP leaders Dilip Pandey and Ashutosh, claimed that Mishra was repeating what the BJP had been alleging in connection with the water tanker scam.
"The AAP can never compromise with corruption. And now they (the BJP and the Congress) are accusing us," Singh said.
"The BJP and the Congress are treating Mishra as Harishchandra...He is same the person who had called Modi an 'ISI agent'," Singh said.
He also dared the BJP-led government to use its all probe agencies--CBI, ACB, Delhi Police, ED--and get every allegation against the AAP probed and throw AAP leaders in jail if these agencies can prove the same.
