AAP comes to Arvind Kejriwal's defence, says Kapil Mishra parroting BJP allegations

Defending Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday countered Kapil Mishra's allegations over the source of the party funds, saying that the sacked Cabinet minister has been merely repeating what the BJP has been claiming all these years.

Calling it an attempt to defame Kejriwal, AAP spokesperson Sanjay Singh told the media: "What Kapil Mishra says, the BJP repeats; what the BJP says, Mishra repeats."

Singh claimed that the party has strictly followed all the guidelines laid down by the Election Commission while collecting funds. "Despite this it has been alleged time and again that there have been discrepancies in the donation drive," he said. Blaming the BJP for allegedly orchestrating the entire episode, Singh said the saffron party made several attempts to get the party derecognised. "BJP's Manoj Tiwari met the Election Commission officials earlier and demanded them to cancel the party registration and derecognise it," he said.

Singh also accused the BJP of remaining silent on scams in which their party leaders were allegedly involved in. "The scale of the Vyapam scam was so huge and yet the BJP remains quiet on the issue… BJP was silent on the IPL scam involving crores of rupees despite names of Lalit Modi and Vasundhara Raje surfacing… Kirti Azad first raised the issue of corrruption in the DDCA. Despite this Arun Jaitley has not resigned as minister…," Sing said.

Earlier, Mishra accused the AAP of failing to declare to the EC the full amount of the donations it had received. He also accused Kejriwal of funneling unaccounted money into the party coffers through a network of shell companies. ""All this happened with the knowledge of Arvind Kejriwal as these shell companies deposited money in the AAP bank account on the same day and time in January 2014. I will go to the CBI at 12 pm with these documents and file an FIR," Mishra said.

Demanding Kejriwal's resignation, Mishra, who has been sitting on hunger strike since Wednesday, fainted during the press conference. He was rushed to the RML Hospital from his Civil Lines residence.