Kapil Mishra's allegations do not merit a response, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Highlights
- Kapil Mishra alleged he saw Arvind Kejriwal receiving Rs 2 crore in cash
- Manish Sisodia has denied the corruption charges, calling them 'baseless'
- Mr Mishra was dismissed from AAP's cabinet in Delhi yesterday
Minutes after sacked water minister
Kapil Mishra's stunning corruption allegations against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia denied the charges, calling them "absurd" and "baseless". Mr Mishra today alleged that he has seen Mr Kejriwal receiving Rs 2 crore from health minister Satyendra Jain, who had also settling "land deals worth Rs. 50 crore" on behalf of Mr Kejriwal's relatives".
"His allegations do not merit a response. The allegations are so absurd and there are no facts. He has been sacked due to poor performance," Mr Sisodia told reporters after a meeting at Mr Kejriwal's official residence. The BJP has hailed Mr Mishra's allegations as a "witness statement".
Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party had received a sweeping mandate in Delhi two years ago on an anti-corruption plank. He had been one of the founder members of Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption, which had mobilized huge support across India on the Lokpal issue.
Today Mr Mishra said Mr Kejriwal had been told of multiple instances of corruption, including political funding in Punjab, Mr Mishra said. The response, he said he received, was "
such things happen".
After paying his respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat Memorial, Mr Mishra said, "There were times when I thought Kejriwal would take strict action, because we believed that Kejriwal is honest... We thought he would solve multiple issues".
Mr Mishra's surprise dismissal came yesterday - hours after he promised some "explosive revelations" to be made today in a series of tweets. Announcing the dismissal, Mr Sisodia put it down to water management not being "up to the mark", which he said, had drawn complaints from the people.
Today, Mr Mishra had negated his explanation, saying the decision taken to drop him was because of his promised revelations.
Mr Mishra is known to be close to Mr Vishwas, who was on the brink of quitting the party last week after a legislator, Amanatullah Khan, had accused him of angling for Mr Kejriwal's post. While showing strong support for Mr Vishwas, Mr Kejriwal had warned his legislators to bring grievances to the party's internal forums instead of airing them in public.