Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Spilling the beans, former Bharatiya Janata Party national president Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said a prominent industrialist brokered a deal between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal at a hotel to "stop BJP at any cost" from coming to power in Delhi.
Gadkari`s statement came hours after Kejriwal, the anti-corruption campaigner and champion of people`s rights, became Delhi state`s new chief minister. Training his guns at AAP, Gadkari also termed it as a "right-wing Maoist party" which wants to "destroy" the democratic system.
This deal, he added, was also aimed at derailing the appeal of Bharatiya Janata Party`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
"One of the big industrialists of our country helped make a deal between Arvind Kejriwal and some senior Congress leaders at a big hotel in Delhi.I was personally told about what talks had transpired in that hotel and what all was eaten by the same person."
"The person who was working as the mediator told me that the policy being made is that BJP has to be stopped at any cost," Gadkari claimed.
Gadkari also asserted that Modi will become the country`s PM and Dr Harsh Vardhan will become Delhi`s Chief Minister.
This is the government of Congress and we will fight tackle them with full force, added Gadkari.
Kejriwal has rubbished Gadkari`s allegations of a deal with Congress in a hotel.
"It is very unfortunate that a senior leader is making such unfounded allegations," Kejriwal told the media. "There is no truth in (what he has said)."
Reacting to Gadkari`s allegation, Congress` Delhi in-charge Shakeel Ahmed said the BJP`s election in-charge for the national capital should first inform the reason behind his removal from the post of party president and then talk about other deals and fixing.
Meanwhile, Dilip Pandey, AAP`s Delhi official, also rejected Gadkari`s allegation, saying there is “nothing new in this, all of this is old rhetoric” of the BJP.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was the Bharatiya Janata Party`s chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, backed Gadkari, saying that if the former party president has made some allegation, then it would have some substance in it. “He (Gadkari) is a senior and responsible leader of the party,” added Harsh Vardhan.
The likes of BJP and Nitin Gadkari are involved in match-fixing, added Ahmed.
History was made when Kejriwal took oath as Delhi`s seventh chief minister at the Ramlila Maidan, watched by tens of thousands of excited supporters and on live television around the country.
It is a minority government in Delhi since the AAP won only 28 seats in the 70-member Assembly and depends on the backing of the eight legislators of the Congress, which was voted out after 15 years of uninterrupted rule.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which despite being the largest single party refused to form a government, will be the main opposition with 31 members.
The Congress said it is supporting AAP so it can fulfil its poll promises, and has clarified it will continue to prop up the AAP.
