NEW DELHI: A day after skipping the
summons
to appear before the Enforcement Directorate for the third time, chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal
on Thursday alleged government wanted to
arrest
him and prevent him from
campaigning
for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the media through a digital press briefing, Kejriwal said the summons sent to him was aimed at attacking his honesty and defame him and that there had been no corruption in implementation of the excise policy.
"My lawyers have told me that the
ED
summons is illegal. The BJP wants to arrest me to stop me from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convener said, adding he would cooperate with the investigating agency provided he was issued legally valid summons. "My biggest asset is my honesty and BJP wants to hurt my honesty with fake cases. I have always fought for the country, and every breath of mine, every drop of my blood is dedicated to the country," Kejriwal asserted.
The Delhi CM was earlier called by ED for questioning in a money laundering case related to the now-withdrawn Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 on November 2 and December 21 but he dubbed the summons "illegal and politically motivated" and skipped them. He said the probe into the alleged liquor scam had been going on for two years and several people were raided and arrested, including AAP functionaries, but the investigating agencies had failed to recover a single paisa and prove any corruption.
"Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Vijay Nair are not in jail because they were involved in corruption but because they did not join BJP. We are able to fight them (BJP) because we have not been involved in corruption," the AAP chief said.
"If corruption has really happened, then where have all those crores of rupees gone? Did all the money disappear into thin air? The truth is that there was no corruption," said Kejriwal, adding that BJP was using the probe agencies for political reasons.
The CM alleged that ED had failed to respond to his queries. "They haven't replied because they know that their summons is illegal." Calling its timing "suspect" when the country was going to the polls in a few months, Kejriwal said CBI had summoned him about eight months ago and he had appeared before the agency.
The AAP leader appealed to people for their support in his "hour of crisis". "Whatever is going on is very dangerous. This is very bad for our democracy. It must be stopped," he said. Coming out in his defence, Kejriwal's party colleagues and ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj addressed separate press conferences and alleged BJP was trying to prevent the AAP national convener from campaigning for the LS polls.
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