Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken has renewed his attack on the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying it has turned into a party of billionaires that has given away Rajya Sabha seats for money.
The remarks come after seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs broke away from the party to merge into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reducing AAP's strength in the upper house to just three MPs.
Maken also took a swipe at the BJP, noting that a party with just 6.6% of the popular vote in the last Punjab election would now have six MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
He accused Kejriwal of ignoring the party's original supporters and giving Rajya Sabha seats to rich people, saying that the average net worth of the seven rebel MPs who left AAP for BJP comes to ₹818,50,35,420.
Maken also claimed that Sushil Gupta, one of the seven rebel MPs, had left the Congress to join AAP to get the Rajya Sabha seat.
With Punjab polls due next February, Maken linked the weakening of AAP with the possible rise of divisive forces in the border state.
