Vishwas claims he was offered CM's post if he joins BJP

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Saturday claimed a BJP MP had offered that he would be made Delhi chief minister if he joins BJP along with some AAP legislators to help form government, drawing a sharp reaction from BJP which termed it as "totally baseless".

Vishwas, who had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha polls in Amethi against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, claimed that the BJP MP had made the proposal at a meeting on August 19 at his Ghaziabad residence.

Though Vishwas refused to identity the BJP MP, AAP's key leader Sanjay Singh said that it was Manoj Tiwari who had made the offer.

Scotching reports about his alleged involvement, Tiwari said it was a "conspiracy" to tarnish his image by some AAP leaders.

"On August 19, a BJP MP, who happens to be a good friend, visited me along with other party leaders. During talks he made an offer that I switch to BJP and in return I would be made the Chief Minister and that the higher-ups were aware of the move.

"The BJP MP said if I agreed with his proposal he would take me to his senior leaders. I humbly declined it," Vishwas alleged.

The AAP leader's remarks came amid indications by the BJP that it was ready to take a shot at forming government in the city if invited by the Lt Governor.

The BJP rubbished the claim of Vishwas and accused the AAP leader of making baseless allegations for political gain and challenged him to provide proof to back his claim.

"It seems Arvind Kejriwal has written a new script for Vishwas. He should reveal the name of the BJP MP who had made the offer. This kind of baseless allegations have been made by Kejriwal in the past also and I think Vishwas is following his path," Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay said.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Vishwas statement should be looked more for entertainment value than for political value".

BJP, along with its ally Akali Dal's one MLA, had won 32 seats in the 70-member assembly in December polls. The number of BJP MLAs has come down to 28 as three party legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma have been elected to Lok Sabha.

With the effective strength of the Assembly being 67, BJP needs support of six more MLAs to touch the majority mark of 34.