The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Wednesday accused the BJP-led Centre of hatching a conspiracy to arrest Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. Kejriwal on Wednesday skipped the third summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy case and sent a written reply calling the notice illegal. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, asserted that Kejriwal was ready to cooperate with the agency but claimed the summonses were sent with the intention of arresting him. "Why has the notice been sent right before elections? The notice is an attempt to stop Kejriwal from campaigning in elections," the party alleged.
AAP leader and Delhi cabinet minister Atishi called the summons a "political" vendetta and said the ED has not responded to Kejriwal's repeated written requests seeking clarity on why he was being called for questioning. "Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly asked the ED to tell in what capacity is he being summoned. He has also asked the ED to send all the concerned inquiries in the form of a questionnaire which will be answered duly," Atishi said, adding that the AAP is not afraid of "such summons".
"The ED and the CBI have become a political tool for the Bharatiya Janata Party to attack the opposition leaders," she said. Corroborating her views, Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the timing of the ED summons.
"The ED has still not answered in what capacity is he (Kejriwal) being summoned -- as a witness or an accused," Bharadwaj said while addressing a press conference here.
"The entire excise policy case is political and an attempt to stop Kejriwal from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP-led Centre has hatched a conspiracy to get him arrested," he added. Bharadwaj said former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail for nearly a year, will be proven innocent sooner or later.
The minister also claimed that the threat of arrests and inquiries by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation only looms over the opposition leaders while those from the BJP don't face any action in cases against them.
AAP Delhi state convener Gopal Rai said they were ready to cooperate if the ED legally wants answers from them but were "not bound" to answer BJP's summons.
"ED is BJP and BJP is ED. Arvind Kejriwal asked some questions to the ED (in his written reply), but they are yet to respond. Meanwhile, BJP leaders are responding on behalf of the ED. Why? It seems like BJP leaders have become the spokespersons for the ED. This is BJP's summons we are not bound to respond to them," Rai, who is also Delhi's Environment minister said. AAP's chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said that the BJP is only afraid of one leader -- Kejriwal.
