CM Arvind Kejriwal Moves Confidence Motion In Delhi Assembly, Accuses BJP Of Trying To Oust Him

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the BJP had contacted seven of his MLAs and offered them Rs 25 crore each to defect and join the BJP. He also said that the BJP had told them that he would be arrested soon.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved a motion of confidence in the assembly on Friday, after alleging that the BJP was trying to poach his MLAs and topple his government. The motion will be taken up for discussion on Saturday, when the proceedings of the House will resume. The House has been adjourned till then. This is the fifth budget session of the seventh legislative assembly of the national capital territory of Delhi, which began on Thursday and is expected to continue till February 21.

Kejriwal claimed that the BJP had contacted seven of his MLAs and offered them Rs 25 crore each to defect and join the BJP. He also said that the BJP had told them that he would be arrested soon on the pretext of a fake liquor scam, and that they were in touch with 21 of his MLAs to break his government.

He posted on X, “Recently, they (BJP) have contacted our 7 MLAs from Delhi and said-We will arrest Kejriwal after a few days. After that, we will break the MLAs. Talks have been held with 21 MLAs. Talking to others as well. After that, we will topple the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. You also come, we will give you Rs 25 crore and get you to contest the elections on BJP ticket.”

He added, “Although they claim that they have contacted 21 MLAs, but as per our information, they have contacted only 7 MLAs so far and all of them have refused.”

Kejriwal said that this was not the first time that the BJP had tried to oust him, and that they had failed in their previous attempts as well. He said that his government had the support of God and the people of Delhi, who loved his party for the work it had done for them.

He said, “I am not being arrested to investigate any liquor scam, but they are conspiring to topple the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. In the last nine years, they have hatched many conspiracies to topple our government. But they did not have any success. God and the people always supported us. All our MLAs are also strongly united. This time also, these people will fail in their nefarious intentions.”

He also said, “The people of Delhi love ‘AAP’ immensely. Therefore, it is not in their power to defeat AAP in the elections. So they want to topple the government by making arrests on the pretext of a fake liquor scam.”

Senior AAP leader Atishi also accused the BJP of launching ‘Operation Lotus 2.0’, a term used to describe the BJP’s strategy of engineering defections in states where it is not in power. She cited the examples of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP had allegedly used this tactic to form or topple governments.

She said, “BJP has started ‘Operation Lotus 2.0’, and is trying to topple the democratically elected AAP government in Delhi. 7 MLAs of the AAP have been contacted by the BJP, and have been told, that Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested soon, after which there will be a rift among AAP MLAs. They are in touch with 21 of our MLAs, using whom they aim to topple the Delhi government. Those 7 MLAs have been offered Rs 25 crores each.”