Arvind Kejriwal says will go to CBI; Bhagwant Mann, AAP leaders to accompany him

Addressing a press conference Saturday, Kejriwal alleged a witch hunt against the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being “steeped in corruption from head to toe.” “I want to tell Modiji that if Kejriwal is corrupt, no one in the world is innocent…They have called me tomorrow, I will go; I want to reiterate to the PM that if I am a thief, no one in this world is honest,” he said.

Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, was one of the first leaders to speak out in defence of Kejriwal. “All of you know the actions being taken against others… but all have done so much for their region’s development. He (Arvind Kejriwal) commands such huge respect. All (parties) will come together, and work for the country’s progress,” Nitish Kumar said.

Earlier on Friday, upon confirmation that CBI had summoned Kejriwal for questioning in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge spoke with him. He extended solidarity with the Delhi CM, whose Aam Aadmi Party has been moving together with other opposition parties accusing the BJP government of targeting opposition leaders.

Just three days ago on Wednesday, the Bihar CM was in New Delhi along with RJD leader and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav to meet the Congress leadership including Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in continuation with his efforts to forge Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking with the media with the Bihar CM on his side, Kejriwal had then said, “The country is seeing the most corrupt government since independence. Nitishji has taken the lead to bring all people and the Opposition together. We are with Nitishji.”

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal took on the BJP-led Centre, accusing it of misusing central investigative agencies to torture people into submitting false evidence against leaders of non-BJP states. “The BJP has been crying hoarse for the last one year about an alleged excise scam in Delhi…They catch someone every day and they torture them into naming Sisodia or Kejriwal… Can anyone say anything and get away with it in this country?” he asked.

“I want to ask the Prime Minister, what is going on here? After an entire year of such ‘investigation’, they say Rs 100 crore changed hands; where is a single naya paisa from this money? Today if I say I gave Narendra Modi Rs 1,000 crore at 7 pm on September 17; will you arrest him?” Kejriwal demanded.

The BJP had, minutes earlier, launched a sharp attack on the Delhi CM calling him the mastermind and the “kingpin of the chess game of graft” that had landed his Cabinet colleagues Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain behind bars.

Alleging that investigating agencies such as the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate were pulling out all stops to frame opposition leaders, Kejriwal argued that the ED had accused Sisodia of destroying 14 phones, which were, however, “still live”.

“These are those numbers,” Kejriwal said, showing a purported seizure memo of the ED. “Five out of these 14 phones are in the possession of the ED and CBI, the rest are live and are either with an AAP volunteer or someone else… They have lied to the court under oath to frame Manish Sisodia,” he said.

Citing instances of those who had been arrested and later got bail in the alleged excise scam, Kejriwal alleged some were subjected to “third degree torture” by the ED and CBI to extract confessions. “What were they trying to extract from Chandan Reddy? What were they trying to make him say or make him sign that they beat him up so much that his ears got damaged?” he said, later stating in a tweet that “appropriate cases” would be filed against CBI and ED officials for “perjury and producing false evidence in courts”.

On its part, the BJP said Kejriwal needed to answer why he should not be investigated in connection with the alleged scam, given the fact that he heads the Delhi Cabinet under which the Group of Ministers that formulated the “corrupt excise policy” was formed.

“The moment Arvind Kejriwal was called for questioning by the CBI, he apparently started trembling with fear. This makes it quite clear that he is the real mastermind of the liquor scam,” BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia alleged, terming Kejriwal the “real kingpin of this chess game of graft”.