The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday sought Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation, pointing out that he was released on conditional bail and continued to be an accused in the excise policy case, while the Opposition parties charged the Centre of misusing investigating agencies.
At a press conference, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the Supreme Court had granted him only conditional bail to a “downright dishonest” Mr. Kejriwal and that he had neither been acquitted nor the charges against him were dropped.
“Accused of corruption, Arvind Kejriwal has become a Chief Minister on bail from a Chief Minister in jail. What influence, reputation, and stature is left of this corrupt Chief Minister who will have to report to the investigation officer of the case every Monday and Thursday,” Mr. Bhatia asked.
Asserting that the people of Delhi would not tolerate Mr. Kejriwal’s position for long, the BJP leader demanded his immediate resignation. ”He is the same person who used to say that one should resign first when facing allegations,’ he said.
The Congress alleged that investigation agencies had been misused over the past decade for targeting political opponents. Despite all that, the people gave a “befitting reply” to the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha election, reducing it to 240 seats.
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Asked about the Supreme Court granting bail to Mr. Kejriwal and comparing the CBI to a “caged parrot”, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “I don’t want to comment on this per se, but I would only say that in the last 10 years, agencies have been misused against political opponents.”
“So, what is the doubt that you misuse the ED, the CBI, and the IT department and have been doing so for the last 10 years? There are so many people languishing in jails without a trial because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah do not like their faces,” she said.
“It is a good intervention but the court should take cognisance suo motu that for years people are languishing because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah do not like their faces. Which law says that you cannot get bail?” the Congress leader said.
Welcoming the Supreme Court order, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav termed it a “victory of the Constitution”. He described Mr. Kejriwal as a “popular and pro-public welfare” Chief Minister and accused the BJP of being against the Constitution”.
The Left parties and the Rashtriya Janata Dal also hailed the verdict and accused the BJP of misusing probe agencies for suppressing its political opponents.
In a post on X, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said: “...yet again, politically motivated attacks on Opposition leaders by the Modi govt. using Central agencies have been exposed.”
“This is BJP’s policy to destroy the opposition by using government machinery. They don’t have anything against Arvind Kejriwal; despite this, he has been kept in jail,” CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah said.
“The only reason behind all this is that the BJP wants to capture Delhi through the Lieutenant Governor, who, from day one, has been undermining the Delhi administration,” he said.
Communist Party of India General Secretary D. Raja said, “We welcome the bail granted to Mr. Kejriwal. He is an elected Chief Minister of Delhi. How the judicial process will move further, we will have to wait and see...there are some conditions, he should not go to the Chief Minister’s office, he should not file any official files unless the LG agrees...so, how these conditions can be upheld Constitutionally we will have to wait and see.”
RJD MP Manoj Jha said, “It was bound to happen. We have seen what the high court said in the Hemant Soren case. In the last 10 years, a culture has been developed to target political opponents using ED, CBI, I-T using fake, fictitious cases. You [Centre] have made these agencies a tool for getting your political equations right.”
(with agency inputs)
Published - September 13, 2024 12:33 pm IST
