NEW DELHI: The widely rumoured operation to topple the Delhi government may have got underway on Sunday as a sacked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister in Delhi accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of accepting 20 million rupees from another cabinet minister, and this prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to demand a police probe of the government.

Delhi Police is controlled by the BJP government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reports said former hea­lth minister Kapil Mis­hra claimed he saw Health Minister

Satyendar Jain handing the money in cash to Mr Kejriwal. TV channels, several of them owned or financed by powerful tycoons Mr Kejriwal has challenged, became megaphones dema­nding his removal.

AAP swept to power in Delhi two years ago on an anti-corruption plank. The BJP called for police action against Mr Kejriwal, the Congress for a CBI probe. AAP called Mr Mishra’s allegations “absurd”.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who announced Mr Mishra’s removal from the cabinet on Saturday, said he has offered no evidence.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2017