The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday accused the BJP of offering money to its municipal councillors and said it will install CCTV cameras at their homes to prevent any poaching attempt.
On contrary, Chandigarh Congress President Subhash Chawla said that the party’s elected representatives are also approached by AAP and BJP in order to gain gain majority in the MC House.
AAP leader Chadha meanwhile claimed that some BJP leaders approached his party’s three newly-elected councillors and some even visited them to make them defect to the saffron party for Rs 5 Lakh to Rs 75 lakh.Mr Chadha made the allegation a day after the results of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls threw up a hung verdict, with AAP winning 14 of 35 wards and BJP bagging 12.
The Congress got eight seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal one.Addressing the media on Tuesday, Mr Chadha claimed that some BJP leaders have contacted and even visited the houses of winning AAP candidates and offered them money.
” Two of them were offered Rs 50 lakh and one was offered Rs 75 lakh by BJP’s senior leaders on Monday evening” for leaving AAP and joining the BJP, claimed Chadha without disclosing the names of the councillors.
Chandigarh BJP president Arun Sood has dubbed Mr Chadha’s claims as “baseless and lies.” AAP leader Mr Chadha even claimed that some central ministers called up AAP’s councillors for fixing a meeting with the Union Home Minister and the BJP president.
A party needs 19 votes to have its councillor elected as Mayor.Besides 35 councillors, the Chandigarh MP, who is an ex-officio member in the MC house, has a voting right. At present, BJP’s Kiron Kher is the MP from Chandigarh.
