Kejriwal takes on Jaitley: Arrest me if I am wrong
Jaitley said the party was caught “red handed” and accused it of adopting “diversionary tactics”.
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AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal during his Trilokpuri rally. (Source: Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)
On a day when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the AAP was caught “red handed” receiving funds through “round tripping” from companies, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal challenged the Union Minister to “arrest” him if the charges against him are proven.
Addressing a rally in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri on Tuesday, Kejriwal said, “ Sab kuch toh aapke haathon mein hai — Delhi Police, Intelligence Bureau, Income Tax aur CBI. Mein challenge karta hoon Vith mantri ko, agar himmat hai toh mujhe arrest karo. Maine koi beymani nahi kiya (Everything, including the Delhi Police, CBI, IB and the Income Tax, is under you. I challenge the Finance Minister to arrest me if he thinks I am wrong. I have not done anything wrong).”
Jaitley on Tuesday said the party was caught “red handed” and accused it of adopting “diversionary tactics” to deflect attention.
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On Monday, AAP Volunteer Action March (AVAM), a breakaway faction of the AAP, accused the party of receiving Rs 2 crore in 2014 from four “dubious” companies.
Terming the donation as a “clear case of round-tripping black money”, Jaitley indicated that a probe will be initiated into this by the authorities concerned.
Kejriwal also accused the BJP of “mud-slinging” and said this had become the order of the day. “Yeh keechad phenkne ki rajneeti ban gayi hai,” he said.
Cautioning voters against faulty EVMs and the possibility of them being “tampered with”, Kejriwal said he had spoken to the Election Commission on the issue of ballot-rigging. He claimed that he had an assurance from the EC officials that in case the EVMs are found to be faulty, polling would take place again at the same station the next day.
At the constituency, which had seen riots between Hindus and Muslims in 2014, Kejriwal sidestepped the issue — it found no mention in his 25-minute speech. But he observed a two-minute silence at the time of Azaan.
Kejriwal promised ownership rights to residents of resettlement colonies for a sum of Rs 9,000-10,000, against the present fee of Rs 12 lakh. He also promised free schooling in government schools till Class XII for children coming from such colonies.
Let funding of all parties be probed: AAP
The AAP on Tuesday shot off letters to the Chief Justice of India seeking a special investigation team (SIT) be set up to probe the funding of all political parties. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal also wrote to BJP president Amit Shah and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, requesting them to agree to such a probe. The letter to Shah and Sonia says that if a party was to be found guilty of fraud in its finances, its recognition should be stripped and guilty persons criminally prosecuted. “Because you have levelled these allegations against us five days before an election, we want to clarify that our funding is transparent. According to our information, a large part of your donations are undeclared… I have faith that you will join this effort towards political cleansing and transparency,” the letter said. In the letter to the Chief Justice of India, Kejriwal said, “We want to request you to immediately constitute an SIT to probe the funding of the three major parties in the fray.” ENS
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