The CBI raids on the office of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary had its impact on the functioning of Parliament on Tuesday. As the Opposition tried to corner the Government over the issue terming the action as “undeclared emergency” and an “attack on federal polity”, the Treasury rejected the charge and said the raids were carried out against an officer of the Delhi Government in connection with a corruption case.
The raids saw the Opposition and Treasury repeatedly engaging in a slanging match in the Rajya Sabha leading to frequent disruptions. Some TMC members came into the Well of the House to register their protest even as their Congress counterparts were already there to protest against actions of the Arunachal Pradesh Governor.
The Congress too later joined the TMC in criticising the CBI raids with leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad saying the BJP Government at the Centre was trying to “topple” non-BJP State Governments through raids and added the House cannot run in such a situation.
He also charged the Government does not want to run the House leading to vociferous protest by the ruling BJP members. “Government itself is putting hurdles in the functioning of the House. A Chief Minister’s Office is being raided during the Session. This Government does not want to run Parliament,” Azad said.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, TMC’s Derek O’Brien said the raids tantamount to “undeclared Emergency” in the country. “This is not a party issue. This is about the federal structure of the country. This is a federal issue,” O’Brien said. Members of the left parties and JD(U) also backed him by standing in their seats.
Rebutting the Opposition charge, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the TMC leader was “not correctly informed” on the raid and insisted that “corruption is not an issue of federalism”. Trying to clear the air in both the Houses over the issue, he said the members should not be “misled” as the CBI raid had nothing to do with Kejriwal or his tenure.
The CBI action pertained to a particular official in the Delhi CM’s Office against whom a complaint had been registered even before the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power, Jaitley said, adding the investigating agency conducted searches at 14 places
on Tuesday.
“The Chief Minister’s Office has not been raided. The raid has nothing to do with Arvind Kejriwal or his tenure. There is a corruption case against an officer of the Delhi Government. The raid is in relation to that officer. It is the officer (office) that has been searched,” he said.
The issue died down in the lok Sabha but the Opposition did not relent in the Upper House with O’Brien again raising it when the House reassembled after an adjournment. The TMC leader said there was a raid in the precincts of the Chief Minister’s Office.
Jaitley shot back and said the TMC member earlier said the Chief Minister’s Office was raided and has now changed it to the precincts of the CM’s Office. “You are camouflaging corruption,” Jaitley said wondering whether corruption was a federal issue for the TMC.
In the lok Sabha, the issue was raised by TMC member Saugata Roy who said it is “not only religious intolerance but the present Government also follows political intolerance.” He alleged that since BJP was demolished in the Delhi Assembly polls, it is using CBI as a tool to raid CM’s Office. “If CBI is used as a tool to raid a Chief Minister’s Office, it is a matter of shame. It is a serious attack on federal polity of the country,” Roy said. Jaitley asked him not to be “misled by outside information” and asserted that the office of the Chief Minister has not been raided.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, tweeted, “Sealing of a Chief Minister’s office is unprecedented. I am shocked.” Kejriwal responded, “Mamata Di, this is undeclared Emergency.”