Political slugfest erupted as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday skipped the second summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate, alleging they were issued at the behest of political rivals who wish to silence the voice of the opposition.
The BJP hit back at the AAP, saying Kejriwal is running away from a probe by skipping the ED’s summons for questioning. BJP's spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed him for questioning the summons, saying it is a case of self-certification and megalomania. He could go to courts against the summons, the BJP leader added.
Kejriwal was summoned by the ED for questioning in the excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday. The chief minister left for an undisclosed location for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course on Wednesday.
Kejriwal denounced the ED’s summons on Thursday, branding it as "illegal" and "politically motivated," reiterating his commitment to transparency. Kejriwal asserted that he has nothing to hide, expressing his comply with legal summons but insisted that the ED's move was unjust, echoing a similar sentiment from a previous summons.
. “I am ready to accept every legal summon. However, this ED summon is also illegal and politically motivated like the previous summons,” Kejriwal said.
“Summon should be withdrawn. I have spent my life with honesty and transparency. I have nothing to hide,” Kejriwal added. Earlier, Kejriwal was summoned by the ED on November 2 but he skipped the questioning alleging the notice was illegal and politically motivated.
Kejriwal sent his six pages reply to the ED on Wednesday in which he said the summons do not specify whether he was being called as "a witness or a suspect" or as the "chief minister, Delhi or the Aam Aadmi Party's national convener". He said the fresh summons -- issued on December 18 -- should be revoked, withdrawn, and recalled.
"The timing of your summons leaves much to desire and strengthens my belief that the summons being sent to me are not based upon any objective or rational yardstick but for extraneous considerations at the behest of political rivals who wish to silence the voice of opposition to the ruling dispensation at the Centre to create sensational news in the final few months leading up to the Parliamentary elections in early to mid 2024," read the reply. "Your summons appears to be a fishing and roving enquiry. In similar circumstances, where individuals are neither informed about the case details nor the capacity in which they are being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate, High courts have declared such summons of Enforcement Directorate invalid and quashed the summons," the reply said.
The AAP national convener stressed that he is "holding a sensitive constitutional post as an elected leader and incumbent Chief Minister of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi".
"I have life of dignity, honour and with complete transparency. As per my schedule publicly known to all, from 20.12.2023, I would be attending the Vipassana Meditation Course which I have been attending annually for the last 25 years," he said in the reply.
Asserting that he is a "law-abiding", "conscientious" and an ordinary citizen of the country, Kejriwal said he does not shirk away from complying with any summons issued in compliance with the law but the "summons is (I am advised) not in consonance with the law".
Addressing a press conference, Delhi Education minister Atishi alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into the excise policy case was an attempt to stop the Aam Aadmi Party's growth and popularity. Addressing a press conference here, Atishi alleged, "The ED is investigating this case since the last two years. In the history of India, no other policy was investigated as much as this policy is being probed by a central agency."
The BJP on Thursday said that liquor and a tendency to insult others work as "Fevicol" to keep the INDIA bloc parties together, as it attacked them over the issues of corruption and alleged disrespect to Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar. Soon after opposition parties held a march to protest the suspension of their 143 MPs from Parliament, the BJP hit back at them.
As Kejriwal on Thursday skipped the summons by the Enforcement Directorate over the alleged liquor scam, BJP's Sambit Patra said Kejriwal can do vipassana in jail as well. “On November 2, when Kejriwal was called, he wrote a letter saying that he had some governance and official commitments ahead of Diwali. He also said he had to go to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh for elections. AAP got fewer votes than NOTA,” Sambit Patra said. Patra referred to the alleged involvement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an alleged excise policy scam and the recovery of more than Rs 350 crore in cash from firms linked to Congress MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, and accused the AAP leader of running away from a probe by skipping the Enforcement Directorate's summons for questioning.
"Somebody is running away after committing liquor scam. There are some who have made fun of Vice President Dhankhar. They are doing a march," he told reporters, accusing the Congress and its allies of insulting India's traditions and Sanatan Dharma in the past. "These are the two things working as Fevicol to keep these parties together," he said. Patra said he cannot escape the long arm of the law for long.
"You have committed a scam and you will be caught," the BJP national spokesperson said, adding mockingly that it was AAP leaders like Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj who had claimed with "confidence" that their leader will be arrested.
"Arvind and accountability cannot travel together," Patra said, adding that it is the duty of elected representatives to respond to lawful summons.
He said the AAP leader has cited official engagements, Diwali festivities and his engagement as his party's star campaigner in the recent assembly polls to not appear before the ED after the first summons.
