A few hours after he accused the top party leaders of asking for Rs 1 crore if he wanted to retain his ticket, AAP dropped Dr Vinod Kumar as the candidate from Bhoa and replaced him with Amarjit Singh, a contractor.

Addressing the media, Punjab AAP in-charge Sanjay Singh denied the charges. He said they had called Kumar on November 12 to tell him he was not campaigning effectively and they would have to replace him. Singh said, “He was informed about the party’s decision. But, because we were reviewing some other candidates, we thought of making the announcement at one time.”

Addressing the media in Chandigarh earlier on Thursday, Kumar, a former journalist, had said he was called to Chandigarh for a meeting by Sanjay Singh and national organisation building head Durgesh Pathak on November 12, four days after demonetisation, and was asked to pay Rs 1 crore if he wanted to retain his party ticket. “I asked them to connect me to Kejriwal. Sanjay Singh did that at once. I was made to speak to Kejriwal. When I complained to him he told me to do whatever Sanjay Singh wants,” Kumar said.

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