In the last 72 hours, Kapil Mishra has single-handedly damaged the Mr “Incorruptible” perception of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Arvind Kejriwal. This is something which both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress failed to achieve in past years. On Sunday morning from Rajghat, the sacked minister, Mishra launched a direct and virulent attack on Kejriwal. On Monday evening, he claimed that Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain helped settle a land deal for Kejriwal’s brother-in-law. “Satyendar Jain told me in a private conversation that he’d settled a land deal of Rs 50 crore for a 7-acre farmhouse in Chhattarpur in favour of Kejriwal’s brother-in-law”, Mishra alleged.

It all started on Saturday noon. Mishra in a tweet had shared a picture of the letter written to Delhi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) related to the tanker scam. In the letter, he had sought time for a meeting with the ACB officials, saying that he had come across “more facts which could be helpful in the investigation”. By then, no one had any clue that this letter is part of a larger performance that Mishra was going to put up in the coming hours. Mishra probably knew that he was going to be sacked as Delhi Water Minister by evening.

Soon after the announcement of his sacking, Mishra launched his “war to clean AAP”. First on his radar was Jain – who is being questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in relation to a money-laundering case. That same evening, he pledged to reveal names of those close to Kejriwal and responsible for the delay in the investigation.

However, in a rather shocking turn of events, on Sunday Mishra alleged Kejriwal accepted Rs 2 Crore in cash from Jain. “Jain told me he had struck a deal of Rs 50 crore for one of Kejriwal’s relatives”, Mishra told reporters.

By May 8 evening, Mishra made a series of scathing remarks against AAP and dared them to sack him from the party itself. While releasing an email id – letuscleanaap@gmail.com – the Karwal Nagar legislator said that the party officials have taken the money while distributing tickets during Punjab assembly election and Delhi civic body polls. He also claimed that he was getting death threats for his exposé on AAP.

Later in the night, in a series of tweets, Mishra said that he will lodge three different FIRs against the top brass of the party – including Kejriwal, Jain, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Ashish Khetan.

However, Mishra has a lot of explaining to do. The timing and quickly changing narrative of the accusations are suspect. His allegations came out only when he was sacked from the Cabinet. If he was aware of alleged corruption by the party leaders during Punjab assembly polls and the Delhi municipal corporations (MCDs) polls, what stopped him from flagging the issue earlier? After all, he was actively involved in the MCD polls in Delhi, so he must have been aware of the alleged corruption in Delhi.

Party insiders told Newslaundry that Mishra had not raised any of these issues in the Vidhayak Dal meeting (Council Of MLAs meeting).

Also, till Monday evening Mishra had failed to name Kejriwal’s relative for whom the alleged land deal was settled by Jain. Notably, when Mishra dragged Kejriwal’s brother-in-law in the land deal allegation – the reply came from Kejriwal’s wife. Sunita Kejriwal tweeted, “My brother in law is no more n this stupid man is speaking all written script without any mind.”

Mishra has not yet provided any specifics of the meeting in which Jain gave “illegal cash” to Kejriwal.

The obvious question is also why a seasoned politician like Kejriwal would carry out an illegal transaction in front of Mishra? That raises as many questions about Mishra, as it does about Kejriwal.

In the chain of events, Mishra began his narrative from the tanker scam and hours later “exposed” the bribery case. He also named Kejriwal’s close aides – Ashish Talwar and Bibhav Kumar in the tanker scam in his complaint to the ACB.

The investigation of the tanker scam is already being undertaken by the ACB. Therefore, only Mishra knows how Kejriwal’s aides could have delayed the investigation.

Also, on September 24, 2016, Mishra had written a letter to ACB deputy commissioner Mahindra Pal Singh. As a cabinet minister (then) and complainant in the case, he had alleged that it appears that the agency is under pressure to file an FIR against Kejriwal. What has changed his opinion about the motivations of the ACB now?

By Monday evening, Mishra’s list of allegations had covered alleged wrongdoings of AAP from Delhi to Punjab to overseas. One has to ask, what prompted Mishra to quickly change his narrative?

Interestingly, on May 8, in the parliamentary affairs (PAC) meeting which is the apex body of AAP, Mishra was suspended from primary membership.  “He has lost mental balance & is making baseless allegations. Show us papers or proof if it’s true”, said Jain on Monday.

Notably, not even those who have left AAP or were sacked such as Mayank Gandhi and Yogendra Yadav have agreed to subscribe to Mishra’s allegation that Kejriwal accepted the bribe. However, the voices within the party are not as sure about Jain. “We can never imagine that Arvind can indulge in corruption. But as far as Jain is concerned, considering that a series of investigations have been launched against him – we don’t trust Jain anymore,” a long-time AAP volunteer said.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day during a press conference, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh had alleged that Mishra was parroting BJP’s words.

However, there is a lot of explaining that needs to done by AAP here. A legislator from the Kejriwal lobby, in an off-the-record conversation said, “possibly Mishra had struck a political deal with BJP”. When reminded that Mishra has been the most vocal voice against the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the past two years, he replied, “ye samajh nahi aa raha ki hua kya hai (we are unable to understand what exactly has happened)”. He also added, “Arvind use itna pyaar karte the, Manish like karte the. MLA bana, mantra banaya gaya. Uske statements humare liye bhi mystery hain (Arvind loved him, Manish liked him. He was elected as an MLA and was made a minister. His statements are a mystery even for us)”.

Sanjay Singh told Newslaundry that Mishra was removed from the Cabinet after several MLAs had complained about the water crisis during the MCD polls, which had also marred AAP’s prospects. “In the review meeting, most of the MLAs said that one of the reasons for the loss in the polls was the water crisis in their areas. This was one of the reasons for removing him from the Cabinet,” Singh said. However, he didn’t refer to other reasons which led to Mishra’s ousting.

It is worth noting that Mishra has been one of the best-performing ministers of the Delhi government since AAP came to power. In fact, Kejriwal himself has praised Mishra’s work in the past. Also, in his MCD campaigning, Kejriwal had accused BJP and Congress workers of damaging water pipelines and hence affecting the water supply in several areas of Delhi.

When Mishra’s track record was pointed out, Singh said, “yahan par mantri pad ko pakad kar baithna iski bhi kya jaroorat hai, aap (Mishra) party ke liye kaam kijiye- apne kshetra mein kaam kijiye (Is it necessary to remain in the ministry? He could have served the party in his individual capacity, should have served his constituency)”.

It seems as if AAP is not revealing all facts regarding Mishra’s removal from the Cabinet and the water ministry.

When asked why no action has been taken against Jain, who is under the scanner of investigating agencies, Singh said that the Central government is conspiring against AAP and its leaders. He also added, “Vipaksh ka gala ghotne ka kaam lagataar kendra ki Bharatiya Janata Party sarkar kar rahi hai. Humare jyadatar mamlon mein jo mantri fasaye gaye, un mein court mein kuch nikla nahi, (BJP is trying to choke the voice of Opposition parties across the nation. In most of the cases against our MLAs, nothing has been proven in the court.)”. Singh referred to AAP legislator Commando Surinder who was recently given a clean chit by the Delhi High Court in two cases – fake degree and assaulting cases.

According to sources in AAP, Mishra had met Kejriwal only once to discuss the issues related to the tanker scam.

The obvious question is, why is AAP not disproving that Mishra’s claims about being present at the CM residence when Jain allegedly gave the “bribe”? Singh said “Pehle unse samay to puchenge, time kyun nahi bata rahe hain wo (first, let him tell the timing of the meeting. Why isn’t he telling the exact timing of the meeting). However, the party can easily come out in public with footage of who entered and left the CM’s house and disprove Mishra – if his claims are indeed false.

This is a question which is being raised from inside the AAP as well. Media advisor to Manish Sisodia, Arunoday Prakash tweeted:

Also, the fact that the party took 48 hours to come out with a robust reply to Mishra’s allegation has only helped put them on the back foot.

One should expect more mud-slinging in the coming days. As both parties involved in the entire fiasco will have to address the public and provide at least some of the details they seem to be holding close to their chest. It looks like it’s going to a long and grimy summer.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @tweets_amit.