The ‘rebel’ at the other end of the line
And this is not the first time Garg has taken on the AAP chief.
Rajesh Garg
Rajesh Garg, the AAP leader whose purported conversation with Arvind Kejriwal has rocked the party, is a former Congress member who became AAP MLA from Rohini and was then denied a fresh ticket.
And this is not the first time Garg has taken on the AAP chief. In a meeting of the party’s MLAs following the Lok Sabha elections, Garg had led a section of the 27 legislators and demanded that the AAP form the government seeking support from the Congress.
In June last year, he had made an appeal to the Congress for support in forming the government in Delhi and burying their differences. Garg had claimed a section of the AAP MLAs shared the same view.
In the recent assembly election, the party fielded Charanji Lal Gupta from Rohini in place of Garg. Prior to the announcement of the candidate list, Garg had claimed he was not keen on contesting.
The former MLA had raked another controversy after his involvement in an incident in January this year where senior AAP leader Ashutosh was heckled by a group, purportedly led by Garg.
‘Separate six MLAs, make their party’
Excerpts from the purported telephone conversation between Rajesh Garg and Arvind Kejriwal in which the AAP chief reportedly sought to poach on Congress MLAs.
Rajesh Garg (purported): Namaskar bhai sahab.
Arvind Kejriwal (purported): Namaskar, kaise hai?
RG: Badhiya hoon sar, bahdiya hoon.
AK: We are ready but those people are not agreeing, they are in touch with Manish.
RG: All eight are agreeing, but Ajay Maken, one Surjewala and someone in the AICC are becoming an obstacle and saying that they will be finished…
AK: Yes, because they are not agreeing what can we do about that then? These people have tried several times .
RG: We can make this appeal in the mohalla sabhas that we are doing, saying that if someone supports us, then we can make the government.
AK: Don’t do this, do the opposite..
RG: I am just taking your advice…
AK: No, no… what I am saying is that right now we should not say anything… If they are ready, then we are ready… If we say something right now, it will see that these people are getting desperate, are taking their support.
RG: It shouldn’t get late… if they recommend dissolution on Tuesday-Wednesday… nothing will remain in our hands.
AK: Yes, I am satisfied with what you are saying but if you make an announcement and they still don’t give support, you will not be anywhere.
RG: The position will become very bad…
AK: The position will become very bad, means till the time there is no agreement from their side, till then it is not right to announce anything.
RG: I agree with you, I agree with you, chalo I will try today.
AK: You talk to them.
RG: We have to tread safely, we find out that “saamne valaa humaara khel kar de”
AK: Haan..bilkul…bilkul…
RG: I will try.
****
RG: Last night, Harishankar Gupta who is an ex MLA is a close friend of Ajay Maken, very close. He had called me and he initiated that he had spoken to Manish Bhai. He is saying that all eight are ready, he said that he had met all eight, including Lovely, Harron Yusuf, all of them. Now an AICC member has put a spanner in the works that they will trouble us in Haryana. We are finished in Delhi, we will be finished in Haryana.
AK: I tell you, start to try and separate six. Six people separate, make their own party, and support us from the outside.
RG: I will plan…
AK: If these six people break… they were going to the BJP, but they couldn’t go to the BJP because there are three Muslims in them.
RG: There are three Muslims, they won’t go.
AK: They couldn’t go, so they could support us from outside.
RG: Haan today, I will do something about this..
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