War of words escalates, PM wades into row over AAP funding

Modi attacked AAP saying that it has turned out to be a party of dishonesty

The war of words over allegations of dubious funding escalated today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing AAP of being "dishonest" while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley charged the party with converting black money into white through hawala means.

AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal hit back daring the government to arrest him if he has done anything wrong but said "it does not have the guts to do so".

A day after a breakaway group of AAP accused the party of receiving four cheques of Rs 50 lakh each on the midnight of April 15 last year from dubious companies triggering a major controversy, the AAP today wrote a letter to the CJI demanding an SC-monitored SIT probe.

It also offered to face derecognition and accept any punishment if the SIT probe found anything incriminating against it.

Scaling up the offensive, Modi waded into the controversy and attacked AAP saying that it has turned out to be a party of dishonesty.

"Now when the question of donation came up, they said we never asked for anything. They themselves credited to our bank accounts. People who know the persons with swiss accounts and had them inside their pockets, (now say) they don't even know who put money into their accounts. They say we don't know.

"These people (AAP) went around as honest. But when money is deposited into their bank accounts they claim they don't know. The country may forgive mistakes but it will not forgive the dishonest.

"These people claimed that they were very honest but they have come out as dishonest," he said.