AAP not a cadre based party, always accused of misdeeds: Congress

Commenting on accusations by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Devinder Sehrawat that his party's representatives in Punjab are exploiting women in return for election candidature, the Congress Party on Tuesday said the AAP has always been accused of such misdeeds as it is not a cadre based party.

"Ever since the AAP party was formed, it has always been accused of such acts. AAP is not a cadre based party it was just formed by a movement. So, no one is aware of the background of whoever is associated with the party," Congress leader Jai Parkash Aggarwal told ANI.

"They had to distribute 70 tickets and gave them to anyone who came forward without thinking about the background of the person," he said.

He further asserted that considering the gravity of the allegation, there should be a proper investigation and both the accused and the complainant should be investigated and action should be taken against the perpetrator.

"This is a very big accusation and there should be a proper investigation in this case by some agency. If the allegation is wrong then action should be taken against the complainant and if the accused is guilty then action should be taken against him," said Aggarwal.

Responding to a question on AAP's clarification over the allegations, he said, "When they are being accused, of course, they will say that they are not guilty unless their crime is proven."

He added that in absence of investigation, the guilty as well as the innocents are let off and it is like anyone can be accused.

AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat had claimed that he had received reports about women being exploited in Punjab with promises of election tickets.

However, his allegations were denied by senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who said that the allegations are absurd and baseless.

This development came as AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar was accused of raping a woman a year ago and was arrested after facing suspension from the party.