The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yet again for questioning in the excise policy case. This is the fourth summons issued to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor. Kejriwal has been asked to present himself for questioning on January 18. Earlier this week, the AAP, which is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, had announced that Kejriwal would travel to Goa for Lok Sabha-related party work between January 18 and 20. In response to the agency’s previous summons, Kejriwal had cited the Rajya Sabha elections, Republic Day preparations, and what he had termed the ED’s ‘non-disclosure’ and ‘non-response’ approach as reasons for not appearing for questioning. AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai Saturday accused the BJP of sending the fourth summons through the ED to stop Kejriwal from preparing and campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “The BJP does not in any way want any opposition leader to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, the BJP has made ED its tool to stop opposition leaders from campaigning,” Rai alleged, terming the ED “a frontal organisation of the BJP”. “On Friday, the AAP announced the programme of Arvind Kejriwal ji's three-day visit to Goa from January 18 for the preparations for the Lok Sabha polls and on Saturday, ED sent a summons to him to appear before it on January 18. This is no coincidence,” he added. Responding to the AAP’s allegations, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva termed Kejriwal an “economic fugitive” adding that the veil of “apparent honesty” had been lifted off the Delhi Chief Minister. “The behavior of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has now become like that of an economic fugitive, given the way he gives a new excuse to avoid investigation after every summons. The people of the country had seen people like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya behaving like this and who later fled the country,” Sachdeva alleged. Kejriwal was issued the first summons by ED in October last year when the central agency asked him to appear for questioning on November 2. The second one was sent on December 18, asking him to appear for questioning on December 21. The third asked him to appear on January 3. Later, the Delhi chief minister alleged that the BJP was out to get him through central investigation agencies and stop him from campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He had also issued a public appeal to the country to stand by him, alleging a plot by the BJP to “dent his honesty”. The BJP had responded to the claims by demanding the chief minister’s resignation, failing which the “corrupt” AAP government in Delhi needed to be dismissed, it had said.
