Arvind Kejriwal was sued by Arun Jaitley for defamation last year.
Arvind Kejriwal's request that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's criminal defamation case against him be suspended was rejected by the Delhi High Court today.
"No illegality or question of sustainability can be made out," the court said, pronouncing the Chief Minister's request "devoid of merit".
Mr Kejriwal and five other leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been sued by Mr Jaitley for accusing him publicly of corruption. They are facing civil and criminal defamation suits filed by the senior minister.
The AAP leaders had argued that the civil case is being heard by the High Court and it cannot take up a criminal suit at the same time. They cited the "double jeopardy" rule, which protects anyone from being tried for the same crime after an acquittal.
The court disagreed, and held that Mr Jaitley had initiated two "distinct and separate cases".
Last year, Mr Kejriwal had accused Mr Jaitley of benefiting from corruption in Delhi's cricket body DDCA, which he headed for 13 years till 2013.
Mr Jaitley accused AAP of running a "false, malicious and defamatory campaign" against him and his family for "political mileage causing irreversible damage to him."
Besides filing a criminal complaint, he filed a civil suit asking for Rs 10 crore in damages.
The other AAP leaders named in the case are Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chaddha and Deepak Bajpai.
Mr Kejriwal, who has never been on the best of terms with the Centre and has lately accused the ruling BJP of going after his lawmakers, claimed that Mr Jaitley's suit is political vendetta and a means of harassment.