Delhi CM says he’s lying in Parliament
NewDelhi/Nagpur: The battle between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Union government took a turn for the worse on Tuesday with the CBI raiding his office premises over corruption allegations against his Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar.
While the CBI has claimed that the raid was at the office and residence of Kumar, Kejriwal termed the agency as liars, saying files from his office were being looked into. “… Let Modi say which file he wants,” Kejriwal tweeted.
His deputy, Manish Sisodia, questioned what message the government wanted to send by raiding the Chief Minister’s office.
In Parliament, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the CBI raid had nothing to do with the Chief Minister and it was a raid based on an alleged offence committed by Kumar.
“Fourteen different places have been raided. This is with regard to an alleged offence committed by the officer before he joined the office of Mr Kejriwal,” Jaitley said, responding to TMC MP Derek O’Brien who demanded that the government make its stand clear on the floor of the House.
“Mr Derek O’Brien must factually clarify before making a statement,” Jaitley said.
But Kejriwal, who’s on a Twitter spree, was quick to react to Jaitley. “FM lied in Parliament. My own office files are being looked into to get some evidence against me. Rajender is an excuse,” he tweeted.
“This is the CM’s office not the principal secretary. How can you seal his office and not let staff enter. Search the files, but what message are you sending?” Sisodia said, speaking to reporters in New Delhi.
In a statement issued, the CBI said: “We have registered a case against Rajendra Kumar, Secretary to CM Delhi on the allegation of abusing his official position by favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments. After taking warrants, searches are being conducted in the office and residence of Rajender Kumar.”
Home Minister Rajnath Singh refused to comment on the case while Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said it was now becoming a trend to blame the Prime Minister for everything. He was reacting to Kejriwal’s tweet terming the Prime Minister a ‘coward and a psychopath’. “It has become a fashion for Delhi CM to quarrel with central government to take PM’s name for everything. Today, the CBI is an independent organisation. Gone are the days of the Congress when CBI used to be misused. How can you criticise the Government of India and the Prime Minister? Prime Minster Modi has nothing to do with this,” Venkaiah Naidu said, as he arrived in Parliament ahead of what is in all likelihood going to be a stormy session.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also hit out at AAP, questioning whether they were shielding the corrupt. “The AAP came into existence on plank of anti-corruption movement, but now he (Kejriwal) is supporting corruption. Kejriwal’s reaction on CBI raid is atrocious. CBI raids only when they receive a credible complaint, Javadekar said.
AAP leader Deepak Bajpai was quick to call the Prime Minister a dictator. “It’s clear, after failing to politically deal with us, now Mr. Modi has declared emergency. People of the country will stand up and respond,” Deepak Bajpai said, adding that it appeared as if the Prime Minister has imposed a state of Emergency in the country.
However, this isn’t the first time a sitting Chief Minister’s office has been raided. In September this year, an 18-member team of the CBI raided Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s residence and office. The raids took place when the chief minister was at a temple attending his daughter’s wedding. Singh has been facing corruption charges in a disproportionate assets case.
