AAP Cries Conspiracy, BJP Refutes, Congress Parades Lawmakers in Delhi

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pandey and two others, arrested yesterday night, were today sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Delhi court on charges of inciting religious enmity via objectionable hoardings. Though the party admitted that one of its volunteers put up the hoardings, the AAP claimed that Mr Pandey had nothing to do with it.

The party also claimed that this was a conspiracy and the BJP was "using the police" to arrest its members.

"All this has come up after we exposed their horse-trading conspiracy. This is as per the Gujarat style of functioning. (Former Gujarat Chief Minister and Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is trying to use the same style in Delhi now. A party that spreads nafrat ki rajniti (politics of hate) is today using police to try and quell protests. We condemn this," said AAP leader Sanjay Singh.

The BJP hit back against these allegations, and the party's Delhi unit president Satish Upadhyay said, "The AAP is using nafrat ki rajneeti through communal posters and they are trying to disturb the secular fabric of Delhi. They are making false and unsubstantiated allegations against the BJP. The country has given its verdict on the Gujarat model through the emphatic victory of Mr Modi."

Neither the AAP nor the BJP - with 28 and 29 legislators in the 70-member Delhi Assembly -- have the requisite numbers needed to form the government in the House.

The Congress has also become part of the political row after it was alleged that the party's Members of Legislative Assembly or MLAs were being poached by other parties.

What started off as a battle of posters has now turned out into a full-blown war between the AAP, the BJP and even the Congress, which was compelled to parade all eight MLAs today in a show of strength.

"A person who claimed to uphold the highest morals is now using communal tactics in pursuit of votes. In that sense, both the BJP and the AAP are the same. He (AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal) has lowered the standards of politics," said Congress MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely.

Party MLAs across the political spectrum don't seem keen to fight another election, barely seven months after Delhi went to polls. But in this game of political one-upmanship, their voices are getting lost amid the noisy exchange of allegations.