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On Kejriwal’s date with Kejriwal, AAP asks people to protest against BJP
The protest will be led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, AAP leaders said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has urged the people of Delhi to join a planned protest outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters at Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg on Friday against alleged “malpractices” during the counting of votes in the recently concluded Chandigarh mayoral elections.
The protest will be led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, AAP leaders said. Incidentally, the protest will take place on the same day that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Kejriwal, who is also the national convenor of the AAP, to appear before it in connection with its investigation into a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise police 2021-22.
The BJP, meanwhile, said Kejriwal should respect the law and participate in the ED investigation.
The BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral poll on January 30 after the chair scrapped a fourth of the votes of the AAP-Congress combine in a controversial decision, sparking allegations of vote tampering. Kejriwal has pinned the loss to “electoral malpractice”, and has accused the BJP of “rigging the ballot”, and claiming that the incident sets a bad precedent for the country ahead of the general elections.
On Thursday, AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said, “To save the country from tampering with votes and to expose BJP, AAP will protest at BJP headquarters in Delhi tomorrow (Friday). It will be led by Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann.”
Pathak also urged the people of Delhi to join the demonstration and “play their role in saving the country”.
A separate AAP official, on condition of anonymity, said Friday’s protest will be a big demonstration and will record the participation of cabinet ministers and legislators from Delhi and Punjab.
The AAP first announced plans for the protest on Wednesday, hours after ED issued its summons to Kejriwal. The party did not immediately comment on whether Kejriwal will appear before ED in connection with the summons. However, AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar on Wednesday said, “We have received information about the fifth summons. Our legal team is studying it, and whatever is right as per the law will be done.”
To be sure, Kejriwal has skipped four previous summons — on November 2, on December 22, on January 3, and on January 18 — calling them “illegal and politically motivated”.
Kejriwal has in the past consistently objected to the ED summons by stating that it was not clear whether he was asked to appear before the agency as a witness or suspect; as chief minister or as AAP chief; and without any details on the line of questioning. In fact, after he skipped the fourth summons on January 18, he alleged that the summons were part of a political conspiracy to stop him from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Responding to Kejriwal’s scheduled participation in Friday’s demonstration, BJP legislator and leader of the opposition in the Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri drew parallels between Kejriwal and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who was arrested by ED on money laundering allegations on Wednesday.
He said, “Soren avoided ED summons several times but ultimately, he had to participate in the investigation. Arvind Kejriwal’s attempts to avoid the ED investigation is sending out a message that he is involved in the scam. If Arvind Kejriwal is not involved in the scam, then why he fears the probe and why is he running away?”
Meanwhile, Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the ongoing probes against opposition leaders by federal agencies such as CBI and ED were not part of a fight against corruption but a political vendetta. “Those who question the BJP are being sent to jail, and in the days to come many opposition leaders will be put in jail,” he said.
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