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Quit AAP over graft allegations, not fear of ED, says former Delhi minister
Former Delhi minister Anand denies resignation due to ED pressure, corruption allegations in AAP. Questions lack of Dalit representation in party.
A day after tendering his resignation, former Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand on Thursday said he did not quit the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) out of fear or pressure from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) — in response to claims by senior AAP leaders on Wednesday that Anand was under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which forced him to take the decision.
“I want to make it clear that I have not come here fearing ED. There is no sword hanging on my family due to which I have reached this decision. People do not become ministers so easily. ED raid at my residence was only to track the money trail of the liquor scam. I have not engaged in any corruption,” he added.
The former minister also posted a copy of his resignation on X.
AAP leaders linked Anand’s decision to pressure from federal agencies that raided his residence in November last year in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case. Party leaders maintained that the minister’s resignation was part of the BJP’s attempts to crush the AAP following Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest.
Anand attributed his resignation to the corruption allegations being faced by the AAP and its leaders and said that the party which was formed to fundamentally fight corruption is now embroiled in it.
Anand, a Dalit leader, also questioned the lack of representation of backward castes within the party, adding that no leader from the community has been trusted with important responsibilities.
He also denied the allegations that he quit ahead of his next appearance before ED on April 12, and called the politics of the AAP “politics of lies”. Responding to AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj’s remarks that Anand was “afraid” and an “elected MLA from the Dalit community was being threatened”, Anand said: “If I had continued to believe in this politics of lies, I would still be where I was... Yesterday Saurabh Bharadwaj used words like Dalit, poor, weak... Are all Dalits weak and poor? I will not tolerate the insult of Dalits”.
ED on November 2, 2023, raided 12 premises linked to Anand, including his residence in the Civil Lines area. Officials then said the searches were carried out against him as part of a money laundering probe based on a charge sheet filed by the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence which accused Anand of false declarations in the import of certain items, leading to a Customs evasion of more than ₹7 crore. Anand — and the AAP at the time — had denied all charges.
Referring to Anand’s remarks about the lack of Dalit representation in the party, AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar, a Dalit leader and the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from East Delhi, said that while there may be myriad reasons for Anand’s resignation, alleging that he was not “respected” was not right.
“He was in an important position in the government as minister. There could be several reasons for his resignation. To say that he was not respected is sad. I come from the Dalit community and was given a ticket from a general seat in East Delhi. Several people were given tickets for general seats and they won on AAP tickets. Everybody has the same respect in our party,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi assembly Speaker’s office on Thursday said it has not received the resignation from Anand.