The Aam Aadmi Party went on a high alert mode after Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema disclosed the ongoing 'Operation Lotus' in the Bhagwant Mann-ruled State. Punjab FM Harpal Cheema on Wednesday addressed a press conference and tore apart the BJP over the alleged Operation Lotus in Punjab. Cheema in the press conference stated that BJP's 'Operation Lotus' has failed in the AAP-ruled states i.e. Punjab and Delhi. Not only this, Cheema stated that the reason why Operation Lotus did not succeed in Punjab and Delhi is that it has the government of the Aam Aadmi Party, however it succeeded in Goa because it had Congress rule. However, what caught everyone's attention was when Punjab Finance Minister Cheema stated that he will submit a written complaint with electronic evidence to the DGP.
Addressing the press conference, Punjab Finance Minister Cheem said that he along with the 35 MLAs who have been contacted by the BJP will meet the DGP of Punjab and will submit a written complaint along with the evidence. On being asked what kind of evidence, the Aam Aadmi Party possesses, FM Cheema said that he will submit call recordings, and messages i.e. electronic evidence. However, Punjab Finance Minister Cheema refused to reveal the name of the MLAs contacted or even the name of the BJP leaders who tried hard for the success of Operation Lotus in Punjab. Cheema stated that as they are yet to file a complaint along with evidence, it won't be appropriate to reveal the names of people who are involved in it.
'MLA Sheetal Angural getting life threats'
During the press conference, Harpal Cheema further claimed that ever since they conducted the press conference on Tuesday exposing the BJP on Operation Lotus, MLA Sheetal Angural has been getting life threats on phone. In fact, Cheema further stated that Angural has been asked to destroy the evidence connected to operation Lotus in Punjab otherwise he will be killed. On being asked how many MLAs were contacted by the BJP, Harpal Cheema revealed that a total of 35 MLAs were contacted.
On Tuesday's press conference, Finance Minister Cheema had said, “Our MLAs have been approached with offers of up to Rs 25 crore to break away from AAP. The MLAs were told: “bade bau Ji se milwayenge”. These MLAs have also been offered big posts. They were told that if you get more MLAs along, you would be given up to Rs 75 crore."
Operation Lotus
For the unversed, Operation Lotus term is mostly used by the political parties in order to accuse the BJP of breaking an elected government in any non-BJP state. In recent years, ‘Operation Kamal or Lotus’ has been repeatedly used by Opposition parties after the BJP allegedly orchestrated successful campaigns, including poaching, to replace an elected Opposition-ruled government midway with their own leaders, like in the case of Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.