Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 1: A new war of words has broken out between the BJP and Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party over a conman’s claims of having bribed a minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government as “protection money” and a Rajya Sabha nomination.
A letter from the jailed conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar to the Delhi lieutenant general VK Saxena surfaced on Tuesday alleging bribes to the Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain who himself is in jail since May in connection with an alleged money laundering case. In his letter Sukesh Chandrasekhar alleged that he was forced to pay ₹ 10 crore as “protection money” to Jain, a stunning claim that was trashed by Kejriwal.
Sukesh Chandrasekhar also claimed he had paid “more than 50 crores” to AAP for an important post in the party in the south and a Rajya Sabha seat. The letter was purported to have been written on October 7 but suddenly surfaced on Tuesday when the media channels were agog with dissecting the Morbi cable bridge tragedy taking a toll of at least 135 lives in BJP-ruled Gujarat. The BJP promptly cited the letter as proof that AAP is a “party of frauds.”
Arvind Kejriwal called the allegations “completely fictitious” and a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the Gujarat election and the Morbi bridge tragedy. “The Morbi tragedy occurred the day before yesterday. All TV channels raised this issue yesterday but it disappeared today, and Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s allegations appeared. Doesn’t this look like a completely fictitious story planted to divert attention from Morbi?” Mr Kejriwal told reporters.
“They are panicking ahead of the Gujarat election. They did not have to do anything during elections all these years. The BJP and the Congress worked in cahoots. This time, they are struggling because of AAP. They are so desperate that they are using a conman to plant fake news against Satyendar Jain. They also tried to frame Manish Sisodia accusing him of a liquor scam,” the Delhi Chief Minister said. Mr Kejriwal also tweeted a “warning” to the media against the BJP.
Several BJP leaders shared screenshots of Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s letter to the Lieutenant Governor. “It is learned from news that there has been a thuggery in the house of the thug. And the name of the thug is Sukesh Chandrasekhar. And the person who cheated the thug is Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain,” said the BJP’s Sambit Patra.
Sukesh Chandrasekhar claimed in his letter that he had known the Delhi Minister since 2015 and that Mr Jain had visited him in jail several times. He alleged that Mr Jain “extorted” ₹ 10 crore from him in 2019 to ensure his safety in prison. Mr Jain “severely harassed and threatened” him in jail, the conman alleged. He also claimed to have paid ₹ 12.50 crore to Sandeep Goel, Director General (Prisons).
Sukesh Chandrasekhar has been in jail since 2017 over charges of extorting money from high-profile personalities, including industrialists and celebrities. This is the latest bombshell in the AAP versus BJP fight that has escalated in the run-up to polls due in Gujarat in weeks. Satyendar Jain has been in jail since his arrest in May over money laundering allegations.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had told a court that “certain documents” had revealed a “well-designed public relation exercise (by the conman) by hiring a public relations company to get articles published in major newspapers attacking top jail functionaries as a strategy to ensure Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s transfer.