A day after AAP’s lone Member of Parliament from Jalandhar Sushil Kumar Rinku and party MLA from Jalandhar (West), Sheetal Angural joined the BJP in the national capital, senior leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday alleged that ‘Operation Lotus’ has been floated just to break the AAP and topple their governments in Delhi and Punjab.

Bharadwaj alleged that the saffron party had offered money, security and positions to AAP MLAs in Punjab to switch and join the BJP.

The Delhi Cabinet Minister also raised a question as to why AAP legislators from Punjab — Sushil Kumar Rinku and Sheetal Angural — joined hands with the BJP in Punjab’s Jalandhar, where the party was to come fourth in the elections.

Addressing a press conference here, Bharadwaj said, “If the BJP is in such bad condition in Punjab, why did it poach our MP (Sushil Kumar Rinku) and MLA (Sheetal Angural) yesterday? Our MLAs from Punjab told us yesterday that several MLAs in the state were offered money to switch and join the BJP and that they were offered Y+ security and positions. They were also given the offer to contest Lok Sabha elections.”

“Sushil Kumar Rinku’s MP tenure has concluded. A model code of conduct is in place. He can do only one thing now, which is contest elections. You can ask anyone for an assessment. The BJP will come in fourth in Jalandhar, Punjab. They can do whatever they want, but they will be fourth. The question is, why would an MP join the BJP to come fourth?” the senior AAP leader said.

He further said that three AAP Punjab MLAs had held a press conference wherein it was discussed that a majority of AAP MLAs received phone calls where they were lured to join the BJP.

“I think what Arvind Kejriwal was saying earlier has turned out to be true today – Operation Lotus has been floated just to break AAP and topple our governments in Delhi and Punjab. But we are proud of our MLAs that they brought this to the knowledge of party leadership and held a press conference,” Bharadwaj said.

The 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will go to the polls on June 1.