Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa chief Amit Palekar on March 26 rejected the claims that funds generated through Delhi’s alleged excise policy-linked scam powered the party’s campaign ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in the coastal State.
Mr. Palekar, who was the Chief Ministerial face of the party for the polls, told PTI that there is no evidence to prove that any illicit money was sent to Goa, asserting that he and his party colleagues in the State are ready to face any inquiry by any agency.
“The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is fabricating the evidence against the AAP. The agency has nothing to support its allegations,” he claimed.
As per the ED, kickbacks received through the alleged Delhi excise scam were used by the AAP in the 2022 Goa Assembly polls. It has arrested top AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a money-laundering case tied to the alleged scam. Mr. Kejriwal is in the custody of the agency till March 28.
Mr. Palekar said that all the AAP candidates spent from their pockets for the Assembly election campaign. The party had won two of the 40 seats in the State.
“While the Congress and the BJP were spending lakhs of Rupees on their workers, the AAP workers toiled voluntarily for the party due to the honest politics that we have been supporting,” he said. The AAP leader said that he and all their candidates are ready to face any inquiry by any agency.
Mr. Palekar said that the AAP Goa unit is firmly behind Mr. Kejriwal and will fight back “attempts by BJP to target their party”.
About BJP nominating industrialist Pallavi Dempo for the South Goa constituency in the Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Palekar said the saffron party has ignored its loyal workers.
“There are cadres who have been working for the party for 30 years. They were sidelined and it gave the ticket to Dempo,” he said, adding that she was not even a primary member of the BJP.
He said the BJP gave the ticket to Union Minister Shripad Naik for the North Goa seat as it feared losing votes of a “certain community”. “The BJP is rattled as it is set to lose both seats in Goa to the candidates of the opposition INDIA bloc,” he added.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won the North Goa seat, while the other went to the Congress. Lok Sabha polls for the two seats in Goa will be held on May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4.
