A political war of words has broken out after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got fresh summons from the Enforcement Directorate on Friday in connection with the excise policy case and was asked to appear for questioning on 3 January 2024. This is the third summons issued by the ED to the Delhi Chief Minister. He skipped the first two summons, while the BJP slammed the Delhi CM for skipping the previous summons and demanded that he face the ED’s tough questions. The ruling AAP called the whole exercise a case of political vendetta.
“This is a completely fake case only to target the AAP leadership. The BJP has not been able to produce a single piece of evidence in court,” the AAP said in a statement. “It’s just a political vendetta to counter the growing popularity of AAP across the country. Since CM Arvind Kejriwal has left for Vipassana on the 19th, we cannot confirm if another summons has been received or not,” the AAP added.
Arvind Kejriwal had also skipped the second summons of the ED, asking him to appear before it on Thursday (December 21) for questioning in the Delhi excise case, but he left the capital a day before his expected appearance in the ED office.
However, at that time, Kejriwal’s office said that “he left Delhi according to a programme that was finalised before he received the summons on Monday, 18 December.”
Kejriwal also skipped ED’s first summons on 2 November and flew to Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh to address a political rally.
Delhi BJP president Shri Virendra Sachdeva has said that it is surprising to see that instead of appearing before the Enforcement Directorate, Chief Minister Kejriwal is trying to garner public sympathy by raising a debate on social media and making his party leaders repeat their rhetorical statement that there is nothing like a liquor scam.
He added that the people of Delhi want to know from Raghav Chadha, Atishi Singh, and other AAP leaders: if the liquor scam allegation is fake, then why are Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Vijay Nayyar, and other accused not getting bail from any court?
Sachdeva further alleged that without the involvement of the Chief Minister, no scam can take place in any state, and the way Arvind Kejriwal is running away from inquiry gives reason to believe that he is the mastermind behind the liquor scam. If he is innocent, then Kejriwal should join the investigation and be assured that under the Indian constitution and law, nobody can be falsely implicated or convicted.
“If Kejriwal gives any excuse, that would mean he is trying to evade inquiry and that he is involved in the liquor scam and subsequent money trail,” he added.
AAP leader Sandeep Pathak attacked the Central government over the ED summons issued to Kejriwal.
He said, “Whoever raises a voice against PM Modi will either get suspended or arrested. Sanjay Singh, Satyendar Jain, and Manish Sisodia are a few examples.”