The BJP on Thursday slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for repeatedly skipping the Enforcement Directorate's summonses and said he fears that he will be arrested as he knows he is the "kingpin" of the alleged excise scam.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia alleged Kejriwal did not appear before the ED as he was "sweating" in winter and "shaking in fear" anticipating his arrest since he knows that he is the kingpin of the excise policy "scam".
Bhatia described the ED's summonses to Kejriwal as "justified" and asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor why he doesn't approach the court challenging the probe agency's summonses, instead of writing letters and skipping them.
"You are sweating in winter and shaking in fear. Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, sitting behind bars, are asking Kejriwal when will he join them (in prison)," he said.The BJP spokesperson said now it "seems certain" that the "kingpin" of the liquor scam will be put behind bars.
"Now it's confirmed that Arvind Kejriwal knows that he committed this scam worth thousands of crores of rupees. Arvind Kejriwal has come to know that his future is dark," he said.
"Listen carefully Arvind Kejriwal, you are not above the law. People who are accused or have been issued summons can escape the law for some time but can't survive. You are not going to survive," he warned.Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said the ED summonses issued to him were "illegal" and part of a political conspiracy to stop him from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Hitting back, Bhatia said, "Ulta chor kotwal ko dante (pot is calling the kettle black)...It's for the first time in the history of independent India that someone is asking the probe agency to withdraw its summons." "Kejriwal is synonymous with anarchy. Breaking the law, corruption, loot and kickbacks are in his DNA," he added.
The BJP leader likened Kejriwal to the protagonist of the Aamir Khan-starrer film "Ghajini" who suffers from amnesia and reminded the chief minister that he had said in the past that anyone facing allegations of graft should resign and return to his position only after getting a clean chit.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva has said that the way Arvind Kejriwal hiding from ED notice he looks like an economic fugitive. "It seems that Kejriwal knows that the investigation conducted by ED has established that he is the main brain behind the liquor scam and the beneficiary of the scam. Therefore, now he is trying to linger on the investigation as much as possible but he should know that the countrymen have now understood that the AAP government is immersed in corruption and Kejriwal will face the consequences in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections," Sachdeva said.