New Delhi: The Delhi High Court's dismissal of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition against his arrest sparked a heated exchange between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP today. While the AAP alleged a political conspiracy to destroy AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab, the BJP said the ruling party in the national capital "stands exposed" and that Mr Kejriwal is the "kingpin".
Mr Kejriwal had challenged his March 21 arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case related to Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy. Rejecting the petition, the court said that the central probe agency had submitted material to suggest that AAP leader had allegedly conspired to formulate the policy and was involved in demanding claimed kickbacks of Rs 100 crore. The AAP has said it will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Shortly after the high court's ruling, Manoj Tiwari, BJP MP and the party's prominent leader in Delhi, posted on X, "A criminal is a criminal. Everyone in the country has to follow India's laws. The court's verdict has shown the mirror to AAP's gang leader. Evidence gathered by ED proves that Arvind Kejriwal is the kingpin. AAP stands exposed."
BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi said the money trail has been established and that there is a lot of evidence against AAP leaders.
Addressing the media, BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi said that the high court's ruling has "shattered AAP's vanity" on factual grounds. "The self-styled kattar imaandar (honest) has been shredded," he said. Targeting the AAP leader for skipping repeated summons, Mr Trivedi accused him of trying to take the judicial process to a political threshold ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Hitting back, AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the ED and the CBI did not even find a rupee during their searches in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. "They are talking about crores. But ED and CBI have not found even a rupee of illegal money. Witnesses have been pressured to change their statements and say what ED wants them to," he said. "This issue is not about money laundering. This is the biggest political conspiracy in India's history," he said.