A Delhi court on Tuesday summoned Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi education minister Atishi in a defamation case filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Bar and Bench reported.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Tanya Bamniwal said that on a preliminary reading of the case, there were presently no grounds for summoning Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
BJP leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor had filed the defamation case against Atishi and Kejriwal last month in connection with allegations by Aam Aadmi Party leaders that the Hindutva party was trying to poach its legislators.
Kapoor claimed that the allegations were false and that the Aam Aadmi Party had not produced any evidence to support its claims. He alleged that through such claims, the Kejriwal-led party was trying to divert public attention away from the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.
Commenting on the matter on Tuesday, Kejriwal reiterated his claim that the several of his party’s leaders, including Atishi, would soon be arrested by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
“In completely flimsy, frivolous and false cases, they are arresting ALL leaders of AAP one by one,” the chief minister said in a social media post. “Every single opposition leader will be arrested if [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] comes back to power.”
On January 27, Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP had offered Rs 25 crore each to seven Aam Aadmi Party MLAs to quit Delhi’s ruling party and topple his government.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi alleged on the same day that the BJP had launched “Operation Lotus 2.0” in Delhi. “They had made a similar attempt to poach AAP MLAs last year by offering them money but failed.”
“Operation Lotus” refers to alleged attempts by the BJP to orchestrate defections and poach legislators from Opposition parties by offering them bribes and other incentives.
On April 2, Atishi alleged in a press conference that the BJP had asked her to switch parties or be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.
Kapoor, in his complaint against the Aam Aadmi Party leaders, accused them of damaging the BJP’s reputation.
Referring to Kejriwal’s social media post on January 27 and Atishi’s April 2 press conference, he said: “Whenever Enforcement Directorate approached the AAP leaders in relation to the excise policy case, baseless allegations were made by them…to play the victim card.”
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