BJP promised Delhi CM post to Manish Sisodia: Arvind Kejriwal on Operation Lotus

The Bharatiya Janata Party offered AAP leader Manish Sisodia the post of the Delhi chief minister but he refused, Arvind Kejriwal claimed on Thursday, accusing the JP Nadda-led party of attempting to bring down his government by offering money to AAP MLAs. Kejriwal displayed his political strength today by taking over 50 AAP MLAs to Mahatma Gandhi's memorial in the national capital following a meeting where they discussed what they called Operation Lotus -- a term often used by the Opposition to denote the BJP's alleged attempts to topple state governments by way of allurement or threats.

"BJP sent a message to Manish Sisodia and asked him to leave AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. They wanted him to join BJP along with some other MLAs and they offered him (Manish Sisodia) Delhi CM post, also offered that all cases against him will be withdrawn," Kejriwal was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

Kejriwal said the BJP offered AAP MLAs Rs 20 crore each for defection but none of them accepted the offer.

"I must have done good deeds in my previous life that I've got someone like Manish Sisodia with me. He rejected their offer. Now they (BJP) are after our MLAs offering money to join BJP. I have got this news that BJP is offering Rs 20 crores each to leave AAP and join BJP," he added.

53 MLAs attended Kejriwal's meeting. Eight MLAs skipped the meeting due to preoccupation but all of them were in touch with the party, MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj said on Thursday, denying reports that over a dozen MLAs were incommunicado.

Earlier this week CBI raided Manish Sisodia's house in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case, accusing him of corruption. Sisodia said the raids were part of a political vendetta launched because Arvind Kejriwal was emerging as the main rival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"My reply to BJP -- I am a descendant of Maharana Pratap and a Rajput. I am ready to get beheaded but can never bow down before conspirators and corrupt people. All the cases against me are false. Do whatever you want to do," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Having won Delhi and Punjab, AAP is the only regional party in the country to have governments in two states. Arvind Kejriwal has been trying to expand AAP's footprints in states other than Delhi, including BJP bastions like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa.

Kejriwal earlier this month said the party he formed in 2012 was on its way to becoming a national party.