Delhi Assembly polls: AAP in funding mess, BJP claims 'Hawala at Midnight'

New Delhi: It was a day of allegations and counter-allegations in the politically-charged national capital on Monday. A group of former AAP members, calling themselves the AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM), alleged that the outfit had received Rs 2 crore last year through four “dubious companies.”

Karan Singh and Gopal Goel of AVAM alleged that four donations worth Rs 50 lakh each were remitted to the account of the AAP from four different “dubious companies”.

Not willing to let the opportunity go, both the BJP and Congress jumped to attack the AAP. The BJP fielded power minister Piyush Goyal and MoS (independent charge) Nirmala Sitaraman to pin down AAP over the issue. “Four fake companies, with the same directors and made within a period of 10-11 days, donated Rs 50 lakh each to the AAP on the same day,” Mr Goyal said.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi demanded an “in-depth investigation” into  the dubious donations to the AAP. “Those who used to give lectures saying that we are snow white and descended from heaven are allegedly taking money from dubious companies (sic),” Mr Singhvi said.

BJP leader and former AAP member Shazia Ilmi took a dig at AAP terming the transactions as “hawala at midnight” and said this is only “a tip of the iceberg”.

“They talk about an internal Lokpal. But no one worries of checking donations of Rs 2 crore,” she said.

Meanwhile, hitting out at AAP convener over the party’s funding, former AAP member Shazia Ilmi said, “Kejriwal is hiding behind a false image of honesty and trying to fool people.” The AAP, of course, refuted the charges and challenged the Centre to order a probe by any Central investigation agency, including the CBI. Senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav claimed that this was a “conspiracy” and he invited the “government to order an investigation before the February 7 polls”. 

He also said that AAP members were “ready to be arrested if they had done anything wrong”. The AAP attributed the money-laundering claims to “malicious propaganda” by the Opposition parties to defame it.

“AAP funding has already been probed, twice by successive Central governments, both the UPA and now the NDA. The AAP challenges  the BJP-led NDA Central government to probe its funding by any of the agencies at its command as many times as it wants,” the party said in a statement.