AAP indulged in extensive corruption in Delhi and Punjab: Anurag Thakur

The Enforcement Directorate summoned Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 2 in connection with alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and claimed that the party indulged in “extensive corruption” after coming to power in Delhi and Punjab.

Union minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur. (PTI Photo)

“Ever since they came to power, one leader after another has been found involved in corruption. Aam Aadmi Party has done widespread corruption from Delhi to Punjab. Just two months after the formation of the government in Punjab, its health minister was accused of corruption, and he had to resign,” Thakur said.

His remarks came a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on November 2 in connection with alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

“Senior leader of Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal keeps distributing certificates of honesty to Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain. A minister who used to give certificates of honesty went to jail, and now his bail has not been granted,” he added.

Thakur was referring to the Supreme Court’s denial of bail to Delhi deputy chief minister Sisodia in the same case on Monday.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh too was arrested by the ED earlier this month in connection with the same case.

Meanwhile, AAP today accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of conspiring to politically end Kejriwal.

AAP minister Atishi Marlena said, “We are getting information that when Arvind Kejriwal appears before ED on November 2, the ED will arrest and put him in jail. BJP and the PM want to finish AAP. Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested not because there is any case against him, it is because the PM fears him.”

“They want to politically end Arvind Kejriwal. In the way in which AAP is expanding, PM Modi and the BJP were clear that it is becoming impossible to defeat AAP in a legal way in elections... This is part of that conspiracy. The country is becoming collateral damage in this. The BJP is trying to end all institutions slowly. People are above everything in democracy. PM Modi and the BJP are giving the message that people can vote for anyone, but we will run the government because we have power,” AAP leader Saurab Bharadwaj said.