AAP rallies around Kejriwal, Delhi BJP leaders hold protest

The Delhi chief minister on Thursday skipped ED summons in the excise policy case, and flew to poll-bound Madhya Pradesh to canvass for AAP candidates

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on Thursday rallied behind party chief Arvind Kejriwal who skipped Enforcement Directorate summons for questioning, and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of conspiring against the AAP chief to prevent him from campaigning in poll-bound states.

While campaigning, Arvind Kejriwal said he was not sure if he would be inside or outside the jail when the election results came out, and stressed that he was not afraid of going to jail. (AAP twitter)

“A conspiracy has been hatched to prevent Kejriwal from campaigning in poll-bound states. He wrote a letter to ED asking questions and demanded the withdrawal of the notice. It was not clear whether ED summoned him as the CM or as AAP national convenor. ED’s reply did not come but the reply came from BJP’s national spokesperson, which makes it clear what the AAP has been saying for long, that the summons is not from ED, but from BJP. This is nothing but the fear of the INDIA Alliance,” AAP Delhi convener and minister Gopal Rai said.

Kejriwal on Thursday skipped ED summons in the excise policy case, and flew to Singrauli in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh to canvass for AAP candidates. While campaigning, he said he was not sure if he would be inside or outside the jail when the election results came out, and stressed that he was not afraid of going to jail.

AAP leaders also slammed ED for raiding the premises of Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand on Thursday.

Rai alleged the investigating agencies are not independent. “If these agencies are independent, why is BJP responding,” Rai said.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP leaders held a protest at Rajghat, demonstrating against Kejriwal for skipping the ED summons and claimed that the CM was running away from the excise probe.

“Kejriwal is afraid of inquiry and did not appear before ED because he is running away from the investigation but for how long will he run away? The figure of ₹338 crore that came to light on the day the Supreme Court cancelled the bail plea of Manish Sisodia is a part of this scam, and it is now clear that AAP leaders filled their pockets under this policy,” said state BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.

Meanwhile, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, in a separate press conference, said ED’s summons to Kejriwal was ambiguous. “Kejriwal is a national party leader. Elections are underway in five states, and he is scheduled to campaign for AAP in these elections. BJP is concerned about losing the elections, they do not want Kejriwal to campaign,” Bharadwaj said.

Bharadwaj reiterated ED has not provided the grounds on which it is summoning Kejriwal. “The law has never granted any agency the right to summon without proper grounds for questioning and subsequently arresting them if they fail to respond... the central government is openly misusing its powers...,” said Bharadwaj.

Delhi BJP leader Vijay Goel said when he came to power, Kejriwal said that he would send his ministers to jail if caught in corruption. However, now he is running away from inquiry. “Now when it was his turn to face corruption inquiry, he is running away,” said Goel.