There is never a dull moment with parody party Aam Aadmi Party. After the rumours of AAP MLAs beating up AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal died down, he has resurfaced on Twitter doing things he does best, spreading misinformation and whining.
Today morning, however, he decided to take a dig on Union Minister and BJP leader Vijay Goel who had claimed that 14 AAP MLAs are in touch with the BJP and are willing to switch sides.
गोयल साहिब, बात कहाँ फँसी है? आप कितना दे रहे हो? वो कितना माँग रहे हैं? pic.twitter.com/KxAqX38DHz
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 3, 2019
Goel was actually responding to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s allegations that BJP was trying to ‘bribe’ seven AAP MLAs by paying them Rs 10 crore each. Goel had responded that it is not seven but 14 AAP MLAs who are in talks with the BJP to switch sides because they are ‘frustrated’ with the anarchic way in which Kejriwal worked. Kejriwal tweeted the image of the news and accused Goel of trying to bribe his MLAs. He asked, “So where are you struck? How much are you asking? How much are they demanding?”
As an afterthought, he perhaps realised that this would make it appear that the MLAs of a party which came to power on the plank of non-corruption, are also up for sale, and since he too is an MLA of the same party, it would perhaps appear he is up for sale too. Hence, he followed it up with another tweet that while the BJP has tried to bribe the AAP MLAs earlier too, none of them have caved in. “It is not easy to buy AAP people,” he tweeted.
मोदी जी, आप हर विपक्षी पार्टी के राज्य में MLA ख़रीद कर सरकारें गिराओगे? क्या यही आपकी जनतंत्र की परिभाषा है? और इतने MLA ख़रीदने के लिए इतना पैसा कहाँ से लाते हो?
आप लोग पहले भी कई बार हमारे MLA ख़रीदने की कोशिश कर चुके हो। AAP वालों को ख़रीदना आसान नहीं https://t.co/nEStYE3ipP
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 3, 2019
However, Kejriwal’s pride in his MLAs’ loyalty was quite short-lived. About seven hours after he boasted that his MLAs would be loyal, Anil Bajpayi, AAP MLA from Gandhi Nagar constituency in Delhi joined the BJP.
Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Gandhi Nagar(Delhi) Anil Bajpayi joins BJP in presence of Union Minister Vijay Goel pic.twitter.com/RtdSMg2eVP
— ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2019
Twitter users couldn’t stop themselves from taking a dig at AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal over their MLA abandoning them.
— Chowkidar Ram (@YttriumBarium) May 3, 2019
People even speculated if he was one of the MLAs who allegedly beat up Kejriwal.
??? सही अंदाज
— Manoj Rane (@Marathi_Tweets) May 3, 2019
Yeh wahi MLA hai jinhone Raat me Kejriwal ko koota tha Kejriwal ke Ghar me@KapilMishra_IND @ArvindKejriwal
— Chowkidar Ballu (@kumar_baljeet) May 3, 2019
Meanwhile, Vijay Goel hit out on Kejriwal and told him not to lower the political discourse by levelling accusations of ‘buying’ MLAs.
केजरीवाल जी भाजपा के गूगन सिंह को उत्तर पश्चिम से उम्मीदवार बनाने के लिए आपने खरीदा था क्या। विधान सभा में स्पीकर रामनिवास गोयल, फतेह सिंह, भावना गौड़, नरेश बाल्यान को क्या खरीद कर आपने अपनी पार्टी से लड़वाया था? राजनीति का स्तर मत गिराओ। https://t.co/ry0DNEcNIG
— Chowkidar Vijay Goel (@VijayGoelBJP) May 3, 2019
Bajpayi’s exit comes just 10 days before Delhi goes to vote for the seven seats in Lok Sabha on May 12. The seven phases of voting will end on May 19 and counting will take place on May 23.