New Delhi, May 19: Rebel Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kapil Mishra today alleged that the party had received money from hawala operators to allow tax evasion and that Arvind Kejriwal had opposed demonetisation to save such illegal traders.
Mishra's claims came a day after Delhi businessman Mukesh Kumar told NDTV India that he had contributed Rs 2 crore to the AAP in 2014, a donation that attracted allegations over the past three years that the party had laundered ill-gotten wealth.
Mishra claimed that one of Kumar's firms, SKN Associates, had defaulted on bank loans and commercial tax payments and his office was shut for more than six years, but the company had continued to supply electrical equipment to the Delhi government.
"A man who cannot repay a loan contributed Rs 2 crore to the AAP. Mukesh was compelled to talk in favour of the AAP, otherwise his firm would have been shut down by the government, which had issued him a notice in 2013 for non-payment of value-added tax," Mishra said.
The AAP leader, who has been sacked as minister, alleged that Delhi chief minister Kejriwal was trying to shield a director of one of four other companies linked to Kumar, Hem Prakash Sharma. "Hem Prakash is merely a front," Mishra said, claiming that a shareholder in four alleged benami companies was running the show.
The shareholder, Rohit Tandon, whose assets were attached by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering after demonetisation, had contributed Rs 50 lakh each to the AAP through the four companies, Mishra claimed.
"You (Kejriwal) railed against demonetisation. I'm not going into the merits and demerits of demonetisation. But the AAP opposed demonetisation because of frustration after the raids on Kejriwal's people," Mishra alleged.
"I had said that I would drag Kejriwal to jail by his collar. Your collar is in my fist now," the AAP rebel said, clenching his fist. "He will go to Tihar jail.... Where are you hiding? Come in front, you fraud," Mishra said.
The AAP called Mishra's outburst "Goebbelsian".
Party spokesperson Sanjay Singh said: "Goebell's tactics are being used - by repeating the same lie to prove it is the truth.... All rules and regulations governing the acceptance of funds by a political party were complied with strictly by the Aam Aadmi Party. No laws were violated by the party. Donations being alleged to be illegal were received via bank transactions, not through cash. It was declared income that the party received through legitimate means."
AAP sources said Kejriwal would not respond to Mishra's allegations directly. "These are too bizarre to respond to. A chief minister responding to something like this will only give credence to the allegations. We are revamping our communications strategy to connect directly with our voters to convey the truth," a senior leader said.
The AAP's Delhi-unit president, Gopal Rai, today announced a BJP-like restructuring of the party's election machinery.
"In the 10 days after the municipal election results, we held a series of meetings attended by all our MLAs, officer-bearers, councillors and candidates. We have decided to launch a ' Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot' (My booth is the strongest) programme on May 21. This will be attended by 3,500 newly appointed mandal presidents," Rai said.
Like the BJP, the AAP plans to appoint mandal presidents to monitor polling stations and area presidents for polling booths. "Later, each AAP representative will manage 25 households. Every minister, MLA and office-bearer will have the additional responsibility of building the organisation. The chief minister will lead his booth at the Civil Lines," Rai added.
