'Kattar beimaan, absconder': BJP, Congress slam Arvind Kejriwal over ED summons
AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the ED wants to arrest Kejriwal to prevent him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday mounted a concerted and savage attack on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for ignoring the Enforcement Directorate's summons for the third time, saying the Delhi chief minister thinks he is above law. The party also called him 'kattar beimaan' (staunchly corrupt).
"'Kattar beimaan' Arvind Kejriwal, who once used to say that we have to eradicate corruption from India, has now become such a corrupt person who thinks he is above the law," BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said today.
He also alleged that Kejriwal didn't appear before the agency out of nervousness stemming from his involvement in corruption.
"Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to ED to take back the summons. He also said that there are elections in 5 states and that I am a star campaigner so I will not follow the summon...Whereas the data says that AAP got fewer votes than NOTA in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh," he said.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla called Kejriwal an “absconder”.
"If there's nothing wrong, why is he afraid to go to the agency? When he used to conduct the campaign against corruption with Anna Hazare, he kept saying that first resignation then the investigation would be done and now he's not ready to go for the investigation," he added.
Also read: Kejriwal to skip ED summons; calls notice ‘illegal’ in written reply
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit reminded Kejriwal about his ‘fight against corruption’ and called him a “cheater of his own ideology”.
"When the Lokpal Bill was under discussions, I used to discuss the same with him. We told him that the Lokpal you're trying to make may be misused if the wrong person becomes a Lokpal; and the government could misuse it. He said that a political leader should be transparent. If there is any allegation against them, they should resign...and they should also surrender if they get arrested and if one is innocent then it will be proved...He should at least stick to his words. I believe he's become the biggest cheater of his own ideology," he added.
AAP defends Arvind Kejriwal
Defending Kejriwal, Delhi minister Atishi said the agency hadn't answered questions sent to it by the Delhi chief minister.
"After getting summons twice, Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to ED and asked why was he called by the agency? ED has not answered Arvind Kejriwal's questions so far. ED officials also know that the summon is illegal, they cannot tell the truth that they have received orders from the BJP office," she said.
Talking about the liquor policy case, she said no cash trail had been found in the case.
"Today only people from the INDIA bloc are summoned. Despite an investigation of one and a half years, no evidence of even a single rupee has been found...This summon is only because of the Lok Sabha elections. All the parties are coming together for the Lok Sabha elections and hence BJP wants to eliminate the Opposition through ED," she claimed.
AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the ED wants to arrest Kejriwal to prevent him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.
"This is a completely political issue. ED wants to arrest Arvind Kejriwal so that he cannot campaign for Lok Sabha elections. Manish Sisodia has been under arrest for 1 year. They have not been able to gather any evidence against Manish Sisodia. We are not being informed in what capacity they are calling Arvind Kejriwal, he is neither a witness nor an accused," he said.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
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