Clip reveals AAP chief tried to play Muslim card - Times of India

NEW DELHI: A day after a former AAP legislator accused Arvind Kejriwal of trying to poach six Congress MLAs to form government in 2014, a new audio clipping reveals that the AAP convener was ready to play the communal card during the 2015 assembly elections by fielding Muslim candidates in the community-dominated constituencies.

Shahid Azad, a member of AAP's minority wing, released the clipping on Thursday in which Kejriwal was heard saying, "We will have to nominate Muslim candidates to contest in areas dominated by Muslims if we have to stop Modi's juggernaut. AAP is the only party that can stop this..."

Kejriwal had said, "It is not that I want any Muslim candidate to contest from these seats just to match the numbers. These people will be able to keep up with the expectations of the Muslims. Even if we get the support of 2,000-3,000 Muslims, it will have an impact."

Earlier in the day, Asif Mohammed Khan, the former Congress MLA from Okhla, claimed a senior AAP member had offered him a ministerial berth in lieu of support to the party in 2014. He said he had met AAP's Manish Sisodia once and Sanjay Singh twice last year to discuss the issue. "I recorded the conversation with Singh in a spy cam fitted in my wristwatch," he claimed.

"Singh says he did not indulge in horse-trading. He never offered me money, but a ministerial berth and chairmanship of different boards to five MLAs in lieu of support." Singh had also told him, Khan claimed, not to make their conversations public as some senior AAP members were against taking Congress' support.

However, Singh challenged him to make the evidence public. "This is not the first time that Khan is saying this," Singh said.

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