The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on November 2, to question him in connection with its ongoing probe into the Delhi excise policy case. Earlier, reports had emerged that Kejriwal may miss the summons and instead, would be heading to Madhya Pradesh along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for a road. Now, Arvind Kejriwal has responded to the summons by ED claiming that he is a star campaigner with state elections coming up and therefore, he has other commitments which would not allow him to attend the summons. Owing to his supposed commitments, he has asked ED to withdraw the summons.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal responds to ED, "…Being the National Convener and a star campaigner of the AAP, I am required to travel for campaigning and to provide political guidance to my field workers of AAP. As the CM of Delhi, I have governance and official commitments for… pic.twitter.com/piPS5D5kMB
— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2023
Arvind Kejriwal in his response has stated that the summons does not make clear whether he is being summoned as a witness or as an accused, that the summons fails to provide details of the FIR filed against him and that the summons does not specify whether he is being summoned as an individual, the CM of Delhi or the convenor of AAP.
Accusing ED of working at the behest of BJP, Arvind Kejriwal in his response stated that the summons was “motivated and issued for extraneous considerations”. Relying on conjectures, as he usually does, Kejriwal said that on the 30th of October, some BJP leaders started making statements about him being summoned and arrested soon. It was soon after these statements that ED’s summons was issued and therefore, he believes ED is working at the behest of the ruling party (BJP).
It is pertinent to note that on the 30th of October, the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to Manish Sisodia, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and former deputy chief minister of Delhi, in the Delhi liquor policy case. While denying bail, the apex court noted that a money trail of Rs 338 crore has been established in the case. It was in this context that several people said that after the SC had said that corruption by the Deputy CM was established, the tentacles of the law would soon reach Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal seems to have used this to cast aspersions on the ED.
Further in the letter, Kejriwal calls himself the “star campaigner” for AAP and tells ED that since there are 5 states in which election dates have been announced, he is required to campaign and therefore would be unavailable to attend the summons. Further, Kejriwal, while flying to Madhya Pradesh, claims that he has official work that he needs to take care of since he is the Chief Minister of Delhi.
Hilariously, Arvind Kejriwal also says that since Diwali is coming up, he will be unavailable to attend an ED summons on the 2nd of November. Pertinently, Diwali festivities would only start on the 10th of November. It is unclear why Kejriwal would be unable to attend a summons on the 2nd of November citing festivities due to start 8 days later.
It is also interesting to note that Arvind Kejriwal has issued a response to the ED summons on the day of the summons – 2nd November, while the summons was issued on the 30th of October.
Delhi Liquor Scam
The liquor policy for 2021-22 was put into effect by the Delhi administration on 17th November 2021, however, it was cancelled at the end of September 2022 due to accusations of corruption. The investigating authorities assert that under the new plan of action, for financial reasons. According to the agencies, the new regulation led to monopolisation and gave economic advantages to people who weren’t eligible for liquor licenses.
On the other hand, Manish Sisodia and the Delhi administration have denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the new policy would have increased the state’s excise revenue.
