The BJP on Tuesday seized the Delhi High Court’s rejection of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest by the ED and its critical observations to attack the AAP convener, claiming the movement which began with the Indian Against Corruption stir has now turned into “Kejri Corruption Kranti”. The BJP also pushed for the chief minister’s resignation, with its Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva asking if he is now left with any moral right to continue while he remains under arrest. BJP candidate from South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that after the High Court order, Kejriwal has no other option but to resign from the post of Delhi chief minister.
Addressing a press conference, BJP’s national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi cited several observations of the high court to slam the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its chief, accusing them of trying to politicise investigation and judicial processes.
Trivedi also cited the court’s stand that the law applied equally to all and courts were concerned with constitutional morality and not political morality, apparently referring to the claim by Kejriwal and AAP that he was arrested to jeopardise his party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign.
The court’s decision has smashed the arrogance of the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP spokesperson said, noting that the judge also observed that the material brought by the Enforcement Directorate has shown that Kejriwal “conspired” in the framing of the excise policy and was “involved” in the proceeds of the crime.
The ED can’t be directed to carry out the investigation as per the convenience of the person, and there can’t be one law for the common man and another for a chief minister, he said, referring to the court’s decision. It has further “exposed” Kejriwal’s garb of a common man as he has already gone back on many assertions he had made when he entered politics, the BJP leader said.
The agitation which began with the India Against Corruption movement, he said in a reference to the anti-graft campaign spearheaded by social activist Anna Hazare in which Kejriwal played a critical role, has now turned into “Kejri Corruption Kranti”. Then an activist, Kejriwal rode the popular traction that the movement gathered to enter politics and swept to power in the national capital later, projecting himself as an outsider and a common man who kept away from the trappings of power. Trivedi said, “Indian politics has probably never seen such a fall in a decade.”
He also took a swipe at INDIA bloc parties for rallying around the incarcerated leader and for accusing the Modi government of weaponising probe agencies to weaken the opposition.
Sachdeva said Kejriwal has “shamed, betrayed and looted” Delhi. “It is now very clear that ED’s arrest order of Arvind Kejriwal is lawful and based on facts. People of Delhi are today ashamed that their Chief Minister is not only an accused of a liquor scam but is acting like a fugitive running from one court to another unsuccessfully trying to get bail,” he said. Sachdeva said the court order proved that Kejriwal was the “main conspirator” in the “liquor scam” and there was “a lot of crucial evidence” against him.
Bidhuri, who had raised the issue of alleged irregularities in the now scrapped excise policy (2021-22) of the Delhi government in the Assembly, said that Kejriwal should now give up his “insistence” on running the government from jail and immediately resign from the chief minister’s post.
“If Kejriwal and his party still remain adamant, then the President will be left with no other option but to dismiss the government,” he said in a statement. Bidhuri said Kejriwal is betraying his colleagues for delaying their trials in the case.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said, “Everyone in the country has to follow the laws of India. Today Hon’ble Court order has shown the mirror to AAP’s gang leader, evidence collected by ED shows that the kingpin is Arvind Kejriwal
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should resign taking moral responsibility in view of the High Court order dismissing the plea against his arrest and remand in the excise policy case. Kejriwal was issued nine summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) between November 2023 and March 2024. He kept “evading” these notices over the past six months under some “pretext” or the other, the minister claimed. “It is high time Arvind Kejriwal taking moral responsibility, resigns as the Delhi chief minister,” Puri said in a statement..”
