Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has decided to not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for questioning in the money laundering case regarding the excise policy case saying he will appear before the agency if a court orders him to do so.
This was the seventh summon in the case issued by the probe agency against the Aam Aadmi Party national convener. The Aam Aadmi Party, of which Kejriwal is the convenor, said that the agency should wait for the court order instead of summoning the minister repeatedly.
“Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal will not go to ED today. The matter is in the court and the next hearing is on March 16. Instead of sending summons daily, the ED should wait for the court’s decision. We will not leave the INDIA alliance. Modi government should not create pressure like this,” AAP said in a statement.
Taking a dig at Kejriwal, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva has said that Kejriwal is avoiding appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by making a mockery of its summons.
Kejriwal, who on Monday visited Rajghat along with ministers and MLAs of the AAP to mark one year of the arrest of his former deputy Manish Sisodia in connection with the case, alleged that the summons was a tool to pressure him into leaving the INDIA block.
Sisodia, who held the education portfolio as well, was arrested on February 26, 2023, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Durgesh Pathak were among those who accompanied Kejriwal to Rajghat.
Speaking to the media after his visit, Kejriwal said, “Last year on this day, the central government arrested the most capable education minister of our administration in connection with a false case.
“He asserted that it was Sisodia who improved the quality of education in the national capital.
“Manish Sisodia improved the quality of education in the national capital and brought hope after 75 years. But a leader like him was framed in a false case. Cases against him would have been withdrawn, if he had joined the BJP,” Kejriwal claimed.”But Sisodia chose not to leave the path of truth,” he added.
In a post later on ‘X’, Kejriwal said Sisodia was an “inspiration” for AAP leaders.”Manish is an inspiration for the entire Aam Aadmi Party and for all other Indians who are fighting the corrupt. Today, we all went to Rajghat and offered flowers to Pujya Bapu and prayed to give more courage to Manish in this fight against dictatorship and injustice,” Kejriwal wrote in Hindi.
He asserted the AAP would not break its alliance with the Congress, another constituent of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), with which his party has entered into a seat-sharing deal in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat for the Lok Sabha polls.
Earlier, the AAP leaders including Delhi Ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP MP Sandeep Pathak have alleged that the BJP-led Centre was scared of the party’s alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls and was using the CBI to get Kejriwal arrested. Bharadwaj has stated that said as soon as reports of the finalisation of seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) started coming in, the ED sent a seventh summons to Kejriwal in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
A city court, approached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over Kejriwal skipping its summonses, has directed the Delhi chief minister to appear before it on March 16.
Kejriwal has so far skipped seven summonses by the ED. The agency issued the seventh summons to the Delhi chief minister last week, asking him to appear before it for questioning.
“If the court says go, then I will go,” Kejriwal said.Kejriwal and his party have alleged that the summonses issued by the ED were “illegal”.
