It was on the 13th of September when the Aam Aadmi Party alleged BJP of starting ‘Operation Lotus’ in Punjab. They alleged the BJP of buying their MLAs by offering them a huge sum of money for leaving their current party. After the allegations were raised, 3 MLAs came forward and publicly admitted of receiving the offer.
Now, a big disclosure has come into this case. The two big names out of these three that are MLA Sheetal Angural and MLA Raman Arora have given their statements to the Vigilance Bureau in the relation to the Operation Lotus case. MLA Sheetal Angural has alleged Union Minister Anurag Thakur of attempting to buy them by offering 25 crores through some mediator. MLA Sheetal Angural has said that he does not want to accuse Anurag Thakur falsely. He stated further that the minister did not approach him directly only the people who gave him the offer took name of Union Minister, Anurag Thakur. The statement was recorded in the VB office today in Chandigarh.
Sheetal Angural has handed over the audio and all the evidence to the SIT. He said that CCTV footages were involved where the meeting took place. He has made sure that everything will be revealed in the probe being conducted by VB in the matter. By these statements, the political environment of Punjab seems to have heated up. It seems like the AAP government is trying to hit two targets with one arrow. One is that this will bring out the negative image of BJP in Punjab and the second Himachal elections. If the alleged person is found guilty then this might give AAP an edge in the Himachal elections as for the time being, he is the emerging face of Himachal CM.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur shares a great and old relationship with Punjab. Anurag Thakur has done his schooling in Jalandhar. Also, he has been in business with his relatives for a long time in the same city. Also, his father Prem Kumar Dhumal was a lecturer at the University in Jalandhar.
It is alleged that both the MLAs who submitted a statement to the Vigilance Bureau are at one time very close to Bhartiya Janta Party so, they know the internal secrets as well as the working of the party. MLA Raman Arora has not provided the bureau with any name. He just added that a senior functionary of RSS was trying to give him this offer.
AAP had accused the BJP of offering 25 crores rupees to its 25 MLAs in return for joining the BJP under Operation Lotus. Till now, only 10 MLAs became complainants in the FIR.