ATISHI CLAIMS BJP SWITCH OFFER, SAYS THESE AAP LEADERS TO BE ARRESTED SOON

Four more senior leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are set to be arrested over the next two months, Delhi minister Atishi alleged today, accusing the BJP of using central agencies in its attempt to crush AAP. The ruling party, she alleged, plans to arrest her, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP MP Raghav Chadha and party MLA Durgesh Pathak. "The BJP has approached me through someone very close. They have asked me to join the BJP and said this will save my political career. They have threatened that if I don't switch over, ED (Enforcement Directorate) will arrest me within a month," she told the media. She said the person who approached her on behalf of the BJP had said that the ruling party had "made up its mind on crushing everyone in AAP".       "First, they put everyone in AAP's leadership in jail. Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and now Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been arrested. The BJP's plan is to arrest four more AAP leaders in the next two months. They will arrest me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Raghav Chadha," she said.The BJP, Ms Atishi said, had thought that the party would splinter after Arvind Kejriwal's arrest. "But after the rally in Ramlila Maidan Sunday, the BJP thinks the arrest of four leaders was not enough," she said. The Delhi minister claimed that she had received information that ED may raid her and her relatives' homes in the coming days. "We are Arvind Kejriwal's soldiers, we won't be cowed down by BJP's threats." Ms Atishi referred to the ED's submission in court that Mr Kejriwal had said AAP's former communication boss Vijay Nair reported to her and Mr Bharadwaj. "This information is already in ED's and CBI's chargesheets. It is possible that ED took our names so that they proceed on arresting the second line of AAP leadership," she said.