File photo of Arvind Kejriwal
Had the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) been under the control of the state government, sacked Delhi minister Asim Ahmed Khan would have been in jail by now, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.
Mr Kejriwal also asked AAP MLAs to be prepared to go jail as he claimed that Delhi Police were looking to frame his party's legislators.
"These people (the Centre) have destroyed the ACB. Had ACB been under the control of the state government, Mr Asim Khan would have been in jail by now.
"These people destroyed the ACB, which is why we've had to ask the CBI to probe the matter," he said at an interaction with AAP MLAs and their families.
Delhi government is at loggerheads with Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over the chief of the ACB appointed by the latter.
The interaction, which lasted for nearly three hours, was aimed at reiterating the party's ideology to the MLAs following the Khan episode.
Mr Khan, who was serving as the Delhi Environment, Food and Supplies Minister, was sacked on Friday over graft allegations.
Sending a stern message to its MLAs and party members, the chief minister said "nobody will be spared" if an episode like the one involving Mr Khan was repeated.
Mr Kejriwal stressed that the party has "zero tolerance" towards corruption.
Mr Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia urged the legislators to think about the embarrassment to their families in case they were involved in any transgression.
"Imagine how they would feel because of your mistakes.
Think about them first. If the family (of an MLA) feels that he is making a mistake, then they should caution him," Mr Sisodia said.
Mr Kejriwal also asked the family members of the MLAs to alert them if they found them to be making any mistake.
"One makes a mistake and everyone has to suffer... the family, the party," he said.
Interestingly, all AAP MLAs, including another sacked minister, Jitendra Singh Tomar, who was arrested in a fake degree case, and Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti, who was arrested in a domestic violence case, were present at the meeting.
However, Khan and Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar were not present at the meeting.