The BJP on Wednesday mounted a concerted and savage attack on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for ignoring the Enforcement Directorate's summons for the third time, saying the Delhi chief minister is shaking in fear. The BJP further said Kejriwal is not appearing before the Enforcement Directorate because he knows that he is the "kingpin" of the alleged liquor policy scam. The party also called him 'kattar beimaan' (staunchly corrupt)and claimed that Kejriwal did not want the truth to come out.
The BJP's reaction came after Kejriwal skipped the third summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case and sent a written reply calling the notice "illegal". Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit reminded Kejriwal about his ‘fight against corruption’ and called him a “cheater of his own ideology”.
Following the development, BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla hit out at the Delhi Chief Minister and alleged he had "something to hide"."Today, once again Arvind Kejriwal has skipped the third summon. This shows that there is something to hide, and that is why he is absconding like a criminal. Courts have not given bail to Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, and the courts have established that there is a money trail, despite all this they are playing the same victim card," (sic) he wrote on X and posted a video.
Reacting sharply, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, "Outright dishonest and sinister Arvind Kejriwal is shaking in fear and making one after another lame excuse to skip ED summons."
"It won't be wrong to say that Kejriwal is afraid today because he knows that his arrest is imminent, he is aware that he is the kingpin and has no answers (to ED's questions). That's why he is trying to evade the process of law," Bhatia told reporters at a press conference at the party headquarters. The BJP leader said it would have never happened in the history of independent India that someone "ordered" a probe agency to withdraw its summons.
"But a corrupt and sinister Arvind Kejriwal tells ED to withdraw its summons. Mr Arvind Kejriwal, you are not above the law," he charged, saying it is the right of the probe agencies to take action against corruption "as per evidence".
Bhatia said that if Kejriwal felt that the ED had issued summons to him out of any alleged "political vendetta", he should have approached the court seeking relief. "Such dramas will not help because Kejriwal knows that handcuffs are coming closer to him," Bhatia alleged. Kejriwal, who once used to talk about eradicating corruption in India, has himself become a "corrupt termite" in politics, and he has a misconception that he is above the law, Bhatia alleged Bhatia also targeted the INDIA bloc of opposition parties, questioning their "silence" on the issue of corruption.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the way Kejriwal is avoiding the ED summons clearly shows that he does not have faith in the administrative and judicial system of the country... If Kejriwal finds the ED notices wrong, he should go to the courts but he will not do that”. "He knows that his is a clear case of corruption and it is almost impossible to get relief from the courts. The people to whom Kejriwal had shown dreams in the year 2013 are feeling cheated today ," Sachdeva claimed. Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri also advised Kejriwal to join the investigation in the liquor scam to avoid further embarrassment in future.