India News | Expulsion of Three Delhi BJP Councilors from Party over Graft Charges Was a 'drama': AAP

New Delhi, Nov 15 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday claimed that the expulsion of three municipal councillors from the Delhi BJP over corruption allegations was just a "drama" enacted by the party to "fool" the people of the city ahead of the civic polls early next year.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, AAP MLA Atishi said the BJP's "real face" was exposed when its MPs Manoj Tiwari, Ramesh Bidhuri and Anil Jain participated in Chhath Puja celebrations organised recently by one of the expelled councillors Sanjay Thakur and heaped praises on him.

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Nearly two months ago, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta had expelled Thakur along with two other councillors, Rajni Babloo Pandey and Pooja Madan, from the party for six years following complaints of corruption against them on September 19, saying more heads will roll if they are found involved in financial irregularities.

There was no immediate response from the BJP on AAP's claim.

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The BJP's action action against its councilors was nothing but a drama to fool the people of Delhi ahead of civic polls, Atishi alleged.

"The real face of the BJP was exposed when its MPs Manoj Tiwari, Ramesh Bidhuri and Anil Jain recently participated inChhath Puja celebrations organised by Sanjay Thakur and heaped praises him even though he was expelled from the party for six years over charges of financial corruption," she charged.

At the press conference, the AAP leader also showed photographs and video clips of the Chhath Puja celebrations organised by Thakur.

"Manoj Tiwari, a former president of the Delhi BJP, accompanied Thakur on stage and openly praised him, saying he was proud of being his elder brother. And then Ramesh Bidhuri followed suit calling him (Thakur) a great councillor. Not just this, a press conference in favour of Thakur was also held by Manoj Tiwari," she alleged.

This makes it clear that the senior leadership of the BJP is "consistently" protecting the councillors, "giving shelter to them and hence enabling flagrant corruption", she alleged.

"Fifteen years of BJP rule is wreaking havoc in municipal corporations in Delhi making it synonymous with 'Most Corrupt Department'," she added.

Atishi claimed the BJP had denied tickets to its sitting councillors in the civic polls in 2017 and had fielded new faces on all seats to cover up its "negative image" before the people.

"The people of Delhi have made up their mind this time to oust the BJP from power in municipal corporations in Delhi (in the upcoming civic polls)," she added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)