The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will move the Supreme Court against his arrest in the excise policy case and that the party does not agree with the Delhi High Court order trashing the leader’s plea against his incarceration.
Following the High Court order, the BJP demanded Mr. Kejriwal’s resignation from the CM’s post, with the party’s Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva saying he has lost the moral ground to continue after the court order.
So far, courts have refused to grant any relief to the CM following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, after he skipped nine summonses for questioning between December 2023 and March.
The political developments after his arrest have resulted in a full-blown slugfest between AAP and the BJP, whose government at the Centre has been accused of misusing probe agencies allegedly to suppress Opposition leaders ahead of the seven-phase Lok Sabha poll beginning April 19.
Mr. Kejriwal, who is also AAP’s national convener, is lodged in Tihar Jail after he was remanded in judicial custody till April 15.
AAP leader and Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the case is “biggest political conspiracy of the country” hatched by the ruling BJP at the Centre to finish off his party.
He told reporters that though his party respects the High Court, it disagrees with its decision.
“We will go to the Supreme Court against this decision and present our views there,” he said, hoping that the top court will extend relief to the CM in the same way it granted bail to AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh recently.
‘Arrest lawful’
Meanwhile, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said it is high time Mr. Kejriwal quit as the CM.
“His continuation as the CM behind bars is an exercise in shamelessness. Let someone else run the government in Delhi,” Mr. Puri added. Mr. Sachdeva said the CM should accept his fate as the court has held that his arrest is lawful and based on facts. “People of Delhi are today ashamed that their CM is running from one court to another unsuccessfully to get bail,” he added.
First in-person meeting
The CM met his wife Sunita Kejriwal and personal secretary Bibhav Kumar inside Tihar Jail on Tuesday, with sources saying it was the leader’s first in-person meeting with them since he was sent to judicial custody on April 1. Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann are likely to meet him on Wednesday.
