Not afraid of any action: CM dares Modi on ‘tanker scam’

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday launched a counter-offensive over a police investigation against him for alleged corruption, saying he was not scared of any action taken at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The feisty Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader targeted Modi after the city’s Anti-Corruption Branch received two complaints linking him and his predecessor, Sheila Dikshit of the Congress, to a Rs 400-crore water tanker scam in the Delhi Jal Board.

Officials said investigators will question Kejriwal and Dikshit, with an FIR being lodged in the case.

“He (Modi) has scared many people by filing FIRs against them and using CBI raids. Only I stand strong and tall. He wants to scare me and break me, but respected Narendra Damodardas Modiji ... I won’t get scared and I won’t break,” he said.

Kejriwal told reporters that Modi’s actions were welcome.

The BJP has alleged that Kejriwal did not take any action in the water tanker scam for months after an inquiry committee set up by his own party submitted its report.

Sources said the fact-finding committee found irregularities in the appointment of consultants, tendering process as well as in overall procurement of the tankers by the previous Congress government. When the tankers were purchased, Dikshit was chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board. She has already dismissed the allegations as politically motivated. “Mein Rahul Gandhi nahi hoon ki tum mujhe dara doge … Sonia Gandhi nahi hoon ki tum daba doge ... Mein Robert Vadra nahi hoon ki mere saath setting kar loge (I am not Rahul Gandhi that you will scare me, I am not Sonia Gandhi that you will suppress me. I am not Robert Vadra that you will manage me),” he said, referring to the Congress.

“These people got a CBI raid conducted against me. It has been six months, but they have not found (irregularity worth) a single penny...,” Kejriwal said, referring to a search conducted at a principal secretary’s office in January.

Kejriwal said Modi, through his actions, has finally conceded that his direct fight was with the Delhi chief minister. He listed a number of controversies to corner Modi.

“Whenever a Rohith Vemula will be forced to commit suicide or a Dailt will be wronged, I will stand up for him, if farmers commit suicide, I will stand up for them ... If you try to save (Madhya Pradesh chiwef minister) Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scam, I will raise my voice,” he said.

PhD student V emula’ s suicide at Hyderabad University in January sparked a nationwide debate on discrimination against Dalits, while the mysterious deaths of people linked to the Vyapam education scam in Madhya Pradesh sent shock waves across the nation in 2015.

Kejriwal and the NDA government at the Centre have been involved in an intense power struggle since the AAP’s emphatic election victory in the national capital in 2015, smashing the aura of invincibility built around Modi.

Both leaders had been having a long-running battle since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, with Modi calling Kejriwal an anarchist and Maoist while the AAP chief dubbed the Prime Minister a “psychopath” once.