Father paid Rs60m for my AAP ticket, says candidate

Just a day before polling in Delhi, the son of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate made a sensational allegation on Saturday, claiming that his father had paid Rs60 million to party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to get the ticket.

The allegation was made by Uday, son of AAP’s West Delhi candidate Balbir Singh Jakhar, while speaking to reporters here.

Jakhar, however, refuted the claim and said that he was not in contact with his son since long.

While speaking to the media, Uday alleged, “He (Jakhar) paid Rs 6 crore to (Arvind) Kejriwal for the ticket. My father told me that he paid the amount to Kejriwal.”

He went on to say, “The more shocking part is that Kejriwal, who was part of the anti-corruption movement, is so corrupt and taking money.”

Reacting to the claims, the West Delhi candidate of AAP told the media, “All the allegations against me are baseless. I have never met or interacted with my son in the recent past. This is an attempt to tarnish my image just before the polls.”

Jakhar added, “He (Uday) was born and brought up at his maternal grandparents house. I was divorced in 2009. We don’t meet frequently. He calls me once in a month or so demanding things.”

He also said that Uday did not use the surname Jakhar and that he was not sure whether his son had passed the Class XII examination.

Uday added that this was not the only thing he wanted to tell the world to clear his conscience.

He alleged that his father was among those who tried to save Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was awarded life term by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

“My father also decided to represent Sajjan Kumar in court. He was paid huge amount to bail him out,” Uday claimed.

Uday insisted that he did not have affiliation with any political party and also that he had credible evidence that his father had paid for the ticket.

Separately, Kejriwal on Saturday sent a legal notice to BJP’s East Delhi candidate Gautam Gambhir, saying his recent tweets about him were “defamatory and misleading”, and sought his apology in writing within 24 hours.

The notice was served in connection to Gambhir’s tweets where he said” “I feel ashamed to have a CM like Arvind Kejriwal” and “You are filth CM and someone needs your very own jhadu (broom) to clean your dirty mind.”

Gambhir posted these tweets after his rival from AAP Atishi accused him of being behind the circulation of a derogatory pamphlet about her.

Calling the tweets “offending,” Kejriwal’s notice said these were a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The notice said the tweets were “not only defamatory and motivated but also false, baseless, incorrect, unverified and misleading.”

Filed by advocate Mohammad Irshad, from the legal cell of the AAP, the notice sought immediate apology from Gambhir in writing and asked him to publish the same “along with true and correct facts” in newspapers and on social media, within 24 hours.

Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who is contesting from North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, on Friday appealed the people to end the “arrogance” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kejriwal in a democratic way for the city’s development.

On the last day of campaigning ahead of the May 12 polls, she held a road show in all the 10 assembly segments of her constituency including Babarpur, Karawal Nagar, Seelampur, Seemapuri, and Timarpur. She was also joined by her son and former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit.

Addressing the public during her road show, the three-time Chief Minister said: “The people need to give a befitting reply to the arrogant Modi and Kejriwal governments in this elections.”

Accusing the BJP and the AAP of halting the development in the city, she urged the people to support the Congress in this election once again.

Former union minister Ajay Maken, who is contesting from the New Delhi constituency, held padyatras and road shows in areas like Daya Basti Railway Station, Khirki Extension, Greater Kailash, Kasturba Nagar, RK Puram, Patel Nagar, Karol Bagh and Moti Nagar and said the Congress will end the issue of sealing within a year after it comes to power, like it did in 2006.

He also reiterated his promise that the party will fill the 22 lakh government vacancies within a year, if it comes to power.

Indo-Asian News Service