NEW DELHI, March 22 (Bernama) — India’s opposition parties decried the arrest of Delhi state Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a key member of the alliance challenging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Kejriwal, 55, founder of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that rules the states of Punjab and Delhi, was arrested on Thursday evening for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s financial crime investigation agency, in connection with a corruption probe involving Delhi’s liquor sale policy.
There are allegations of corruption in issuing licences after the state government ended its monopoly on liquor sale in 2021 by allowing private players into the business.
The policy was withdrawn in 2022.
The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have alleged the excise policy favoured dealers who paid bribes, according to reports.
Kejriwal was issued nine summonses for questioning in the case.
The chief minister called them “illegal”.
Delhi Education Minister Atishi Marlena said Kejriwal’s arrest after the announcement of national elections is a “political conspiracy” and his legal team has moved the Supreme Court to quash his arrest.
“If required, Arvind Kejriwal will run the government from jail,” she said.
India will hold parliamentary elections in seven phases from April 19 to June 1.
“In two years, since this case is under investigation, the ED and the CBI have not recovered ‘even one rupee’,” Marlena claimed while talking to reporters.
She refuted the allegations of corruption, saying “more than 500 officers” have been pursuing the case and nothing has been found in over “1,000 raids” on the homes and offices of AAP leaders and ministers.
The AAP has called for nationwide protests against its leader’s arrest.
Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, an AAP member of India’s upper house of parliament, were arrested in the same case last year.
A few days ago, the ED arrested K. Kavitha, a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lawmaker and daughter of former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, from her house in Hyderabad city in the Delhi liquor policy case.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance known as “INDIA”, which has over two dozen parties, see the arrest of Kejriwal as part of a wider crackdown.
“Strongly condemn the vindictive misuse of central agencies to target the opposition, especially as general elections loom. This arrest showcases the depth to which BJP will stoop for power. ‘INDIA’ stands united against this unconstitutional action against Arvind Kejriwal,” said Sharad Pawar, a veteran politician from the western state of Maharashtra.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin accused the BJP of sinking to “despicable depths”, and referred to the recent arrest of former Jharkhand state chief minister Hemant Soren by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged corruption case.
“The relentless persecution of opposition leaders by the BJP government smacks of a desperate witch-hunt,” Stalin said on social media.
Rahul Gandhi, a top leader of the Indian National Congress said “now the arrest of elected chief ministers has become a common thing.”
The Congress party also hit out at the government over the freezing of its bank accounts last month in an old income tax matter.
“All our bank accounts have been frozen. We can do no campaign work. We cannot support our workers. We cannot support our candidates,” Rahul said during a press conference on Thursday.
This has been done two months before the election campaign, he added. – BERNAMA
