A
new, bitter standoff between the Centre and Delhi government, which
found an echo in Parliament, plunged the Capital into turmoil December 15 after the CBI searched the office of the Chief Minister's Principal
Secretary in an alleged corruption case, prompting an angry Arvind
Kejriwal to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the probe
agency to "intimidate" him and his government.
As
the AAP and the Centre traded charges, Kejriwal said he was the target
of the CBI raid and Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar was just an
"excuse" -- a charge Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rejected in Rajya
Sabha where the government was attacked for going after Opposition-ruled
states.
Announcing
"CBI raids my office" via a tweet, Kejriwal attacked the Prime
Minister: "I'm telling you Modiji, you may have scared others but I'm
not among those who can be intimidated. I'll fight till my last breath."
"When Modi cudn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice. Modi is a coward and psychopath," he tweeted.
Kejriwal
also targeted Jaitley: "FM lied in Parliament. My own office files are
being looked into to get some evidence against me. Rajender is an
excuse".
He
later told reporters that the CBI was looking for an inquiry committee
file relating to Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) that "traps"
Jaitley.
"It
has become necessary to reveal that why did the CBI come to my office
today and which was the file they were looking for. Yeh file hai DDCA ka
file jiske andar Arun Jaitley phas rahe hain (This is the DDCA file
under which Arun Jaitley is getting trapped)," he claimed.
Kejriwal said the committee tasked to probe alleged irregularities in DDCA had submitted its report.
"Jaitley
was the DDCA president for many years and I had set up a committee to
probe all the corruption that had taken place during his tenure. The
committee has submitted its report and a commission of inquiry was to be
set up over it, and a file pertaining to it was in my office," he
alleged.
On
his remarks against the Prime Minister, he said: "They say that my
choice of words were incorrect, but your actions are bad. My words may
be bad, I was born in Siwan village of Haryana. Maybe my words were bad.
But your actions are bad. You apologise to the nation for your misdeeds
and I will apologise for my words," he said.
The
BJP condemned his "disgraceful" remarks and demanded an apology. Union
Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected Kejriwal's claim that CBI raided
his office, saying it was not even "touched" by the agency.
"A
textbook case of corruption is being given political colour for
extraneous reasons... The use of such expressions for our popular Prime
Minister is totally uncalled for, unwarranted, disgraceful and
condemnable," he said.
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.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also expressed her support to Kejriwal saying she was shocked to hear of the raid.
Sealing of a Chief Minister’s office is unprecedented. I am shocked @ArvindKejriwal
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 15, 2015
Mamata Di. This is undeclared emergency http://t.co/l1EQOTfrFy
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015
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.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, O’Brien said:
“We don’t want to protect any alleged offender in a case of corruption, but this government talks about cooperative federalism. What are they doing about it? This is a campaign to take-down state governments. This is political vendetta in action. This is political vendetta on a Tuesday morning.”
I am the only CM who dismissed, on my own, a
minister n a senior officer on charges of corruption and handed their
cases to CBI(1/2)
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015
If CBI had any evidence against Rajender, why didn’t they share it wid me? I wud hv acted against him(2/2)
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015
“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.
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