Bhagwant Mann, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP from Punjab, said on Sunday a senior BJP leader recently offered him money and a Cabinet berth at the Centre to switch loyalty ahead of the Assembly election in the north Indian state next year.
Mann, who heads the AAP’s Punjab unit, said he was not someone who could be bought with money power or similar allurements. He also said that the BJP was in touch with several other AAP MLAs in Punjab, according to a report in the Indian Express.
The two-time MP from Sangrur, however, did not name anyone, even as he stated that he was contacted four days ago. “Mann sahab, what would you take to join the BJP?,” Mann quoted the BJP leader as saying, adding that he was also asked if “you need money”.
Maan said he was further told that if he joined the saffron camp, he would be made a Union cabinet minister. “I told him (BJP leader) that I am on a mission not on commission,” said the AAP’s lone MP from Punjab while talking to reporters in Chandigarh.
He said he told the BJP leader that there might be others “whom you could buy”, but he could not be bought with money or anything else.
When asked to name the BJP leader, he said he would disclose it when the time comes, adding that the BJP has no base in Punjab. “Its leaders are not even allowed to enter villages and are facing anger from farmers over the agri laws that its government at the Centre introduced. No one who has the future of Punjab in mind would join the BJP,” Mann added.
