New Delhi: A day before the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi on May 12, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was dealt a fresh controversy when the son of Balbir Singh Jakhar, the party’s candidate from West Delhi, accused his father of paying Rs 6 crore for a ticket.
In a press conference, Uday Jakhar alleged that his father paid AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and political affairs committee member Gopal Rai Rs 6 crore for a Lok Sabha ticket.
“He (Balbir Singh Jakhar) joined politics three months ago in January. He talked to me and said he was receiving a ticket from AAP worth Rs 6 crore that he would give Kejriwal and Rai. This money was directly given to Kejriwal, for which he (Balbir Singh Jakhar) got a ticket to contest from West Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections,” Uday Jakhar said.
Balbir Singh Jakhar was the final candidate announced by the party for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. Before him, the party had already announced names of the other six candidates on March 2. Rai had announced Balbir Singh Jakhar’s candidature on March 17.
Uday Jakhar claimed his father had no prior association with AAP or the Anna Hazare movement and challenged the party to produce credible evidence of the same.
“He was never associated with any part of AAP, he never joined the Anna Hazare movement, there’s no credible evidence of that, photographic or based on any interviews,” he said.
Uday Jakhar claimed he had “credible evidence” to support his allegations and that he had chosen to come out with the information because of his “conscience”.
“An amateur politician getting a ticket was surprising at first, I brought it upon my conscience to question this. When I asked my father for assistance to pay for my education, he was unable to do so. He resisted and said he was going to use the money for his own political benefit,” he claimed.
Uday Jakhar also claimed that his father was willing to use the money to pay the bail amounts of Yashpal Singh and Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, both convicts in cases related to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Singh was handed capital punishment while Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the anti-Sikh pogroms in the aftermath of former Prime Minister India Gandhi’s assassination. “He was willing to bail them out, he was ready to fight for them and he personally told me all this,” Uday Jakhar said.
He also accused his father, an advocate by profession, of using money to win the Delhi High Court elections and of employing “all possible methods” to win.
Uday Jakhar said he did not know if he would be accepted back in his home after making such a disclosure, but said it was his “duty” to inform the people of Delhi of the “irresponsible act” committed by the leaders of AAP and Kejriwal.
“Kejriwal came with a clean image, but he maligned himself by aligning with my father,” he added.
While the party is yet to respond, Balbir Singh Jakhar denied all allegations. "I have never discussed anything about my candidature with my son. I speak to him very rarely," news agency ANI quoted the candidate as saying.
Balbir Singh Jakhar said he had divorced his wife in 2009 after staying with her for only six to seven months. "He (Uday Jakhar) stays at his maternal parents' home from the time of his birth. His custody was granted to my wife after the divorce," he said.
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