BJP taunts AAP with 'Mega Ticket Sale' poster on social media as MCD polls near

Escalating its tiff with AAP, BJP's Delhi unit released a fresh poster on Tuesday mocking the Arvind Kejriwal-led party over the 'cash for ticket' controversy ahead of the MCD polls. Mirroring the page of an e-commerce website, the poster claimed that AAP is selling MCD tickets for Rs.90 lakh each. It also insinuated that people having a criminal background and those incarcerated in the Tihar jail will get a discount of 10% and 50% respectively. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla cited multiple examples to justify the poster. 

Shehzad Poonawalla remarked, "Today, the BJP Delhi social media has launched the AAP Kart poster. The AAP Kart poster shows AAP's mega ticket sale. Everything is up for sale in AAP even ticket. Whether it is Gulab Chand Yadav who got beaten up by his own party leaders in Matiala, whether it is the sting operation that cash collectors who are collecting money for MCD tickets, whether it is two MLAs or aides who have been caught red-handed trying to sell the MCD tickets for Rs.90 lakh or the previous allegations of Rajya Sabha seats being sold, in AAP, there is the 'give cash, get ticket' model." 

He added, "We know that there is a mega sale of tickets going on inside AAP. That is coming out in the form of evidence whether it is their own workers filing complaints, chasing away their MLAs from party offices, or doing sting operations and exposing it. This is a unique way of showing the mega sale of tickets in AAP as if it is an auction that is going on. Hence, it is called AAP Kart." 

'Cash for ticket' charge

Congress-turned-AAP leader Bindu Sriram conducted a sting operation featuring Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai's alleged aide Puneet Goyal, a person named Dinesh Saraf and AAP's North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat in-charge RR Pathania. In the videos, they are purportedly heard demanding Rs.80 lakh from her in lieu of a poll ticket from Ward no.54 Rohini-D. Addressing a press conference alongside BJP leaders on Monday, Sriram alleged that only rich individuals were given tickets at the expense of hardworking party workers.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that the 'cash for ticket' charge has been levelled against AAP. On November 15, AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi's alleged brother-in-law Om Singh, his PA Shiv Shankar Pandey and associate Prince Raghuvanshi were arrested by the Delhi ACB for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs.90 lakh from the husband of a ticket aspirant. Subsequently, BJP Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Bidhuri claimed that AAP sold 90% of its tickets in lieu of bribes ranging from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore.