Sandeep Dikshit declares war: Vows ₹10 crore defamation suits against Atishi, Sanjay Singh over BJP bribery slur

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit announced on Tuesday that he will file defamation cases against Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh for alleging he accepted money from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

At a press conference, Dikshit expressed outrage at the accusations. “A few days ago, CM Atishi claimed that I have taken a substantial amount of money from the BJP. For the past 10-12 years, AAP has relentlessly targeted me, my family, and the Congress party. I have several questions for AAP, which have remained unanswered for over a decade,” he said.

Dikshit, who is contesting against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency, criticised Kejriwal’s past allegations against his mother, Sheila Dikshit, the late former Delhi Chief Minister. “Kejriwal once carried around 360 pages of so-called evidence against Sheila Dikshit’s government. BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra later told me that a BJP delegation approached Kejriwal after he became CM, asking for that evidence. Nothing came of it,” Dikshit remarked.

Highlighting what he called AAP’s reliance on theatrics, Dikshit mocked Kejriwal’s methods. “He presented 360 newspaper cuttings as evidence. He must be the first person to treat media reports as proof,” Dikshit said. He also revealed that the day Atishi made the bribery allegations coincided with the passing of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, delaying his response.

The Congress leader declared his intent to take legal action against Atishi and Sanjay Singh. “I will file criminal and civil defamation suits against them and seek ₹10 crore in damages. Half of this amount will go towards cleaning the Yamuna, and the other half will fund pollution-control efforts in Delhi,” Dikshit said.

Sandeep Dikshit, the son of Sheila Dikshit, who served as Delhi’s Chief Minister from 1998 to 2013, lost the New Delhi constituency to Kejriwal in the 2013 elections, marking the Congress party’s decline in Delhi politics.

Dikshit also criticised the welfare schemes recently announced by AAP, questioning their timing. “Why are these initiatives being rolled out now, just before the elections? They’ve been in power for five years. When Kejriwal was in prison, he wasted a year and a half. He could have resigned earlier and focused on fulfilling these promises,” Dikshit argued.

He further challenged Kejriwal’s credibility. “If Kejriwal becomes CM again, will he still be unable to sign files or implement the schemes he’s promising now? These promises are nothing more than empty words,” Dikshit concluded.