Punjab Opposition parties corner the AAP over its ‘operation lotus’ allegation

Opposition parties accuse AAP of attempting to poach MLAs in Punjab, while AAP alleges BJP's "operation lotus" in Delhi.

While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to poach his party’s MLAs in Delhi, Opposition parties in Punjab cornered the AAP, blaming it for making a similar attempt in Punjab almost a year ago, but have failed to prove its allegation surrounding an “operation lotus”.

Terming the AAP’s allegation that the BJP attempted to buy the allegiance of seven AAP MLAs in Delhi for ₹25 crore each as a blatant lie, the BJP’s chief spokesperson, Colonel Jaibans Singh (retired), said there was no such thing as “operation lotus”. “The propagandist media machinery of the AAP always attempts to divert attention by playing the victim card when its leaders come under the scanner on grounds of corruption. This time, the leader involved is none other than their supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, and hence, the desperation is much more. It is for this reason that the AAP has played the deceitful operation “lotus” card in Delhi,” Col. Singh said.

He also referred to a similar attempt made by the AAP to discredit the BJP in Punjab. “A similar deceitful narrative was attempted in Punjab earlier but it did not succeed since the AAP could not provide any evidence to support its false claims. Now, the party has attempted to do the same in Delhi, but people have already seen through its lies,” Col. Singh said.

“AAP remains involved in these evil, self-serving politics while ignoring its duty of providing clean and efficient governance to Delhi and Punjab. As a result, people of these two States are suffering badly,” he added.

In September 2022, the AAP had alleged that at least 10 of its MLAs had been approached by agents of the BJP from Delhi over the phone, who had allegedly offered ₹25 crore to each of them to quit the AAP and join the BJP. AAP leaders even met the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav and complained against BJP leaders. Later, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered in the matter, and the investigation continues to be underway, even as almost a year-and-a-half has passed.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Pargat Singh also hit out at the AAP, raising questions over the outcome of the FIR registered on the “operation lotus” issue in Punjab. He said that even after one-and-a-half years, the AAP government had failed to prove the allegation that it had levelled against the BJP.