Terming the four summonses issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to him as illegal and invalid, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) National Convenor and Delhi’s CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP wants to prevent him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections by repeatedly sending notices through the ED.
In a brief interaction with the media on Thursday, the AAP National Convenor argued, “In the eyes of the law, all four notices from the ED are unlawful and invalid. Previously, when non-specific general notices were sent by the ED, the court had dismissed them.”
Shri Kejriwal expressed that despite a coercive two-year investigation, the ED has found nothing, yet the BJP keeps talking about arresting him because they control the ED.
In response to media inquiries on Thursday about the fourth summons sent by the ED, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “The ED has sent me the fourth notice. The notice instructs me to appear on any date between January 18 or 19. All four notices sent by the ED are illegal and invalid according to the law. Whenever such non-specific general notices were sent by the ED before, the court dismissed them, declaring them illegal and invalid.”
The Delhi Chief Minister reasoned why these notices are deemed illegal and stated that he has written to the ED several times about it, but they have not provided any response. These notices are being sent under a political conspiracy. The investigation into the alleged liquor case has been ongoing for the past two years, yet no evidence has been found during this period. “Courts have repeatedly questioned them about the recovery of funds, whether any gold, land documents were found, or if any money was recovered, but they haven’t found anything. People are being beaten to extract false statements,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal questioned that the investigation has been ongoing for two years, and suddenly, just 2 months before the Lok Sabha elections, why is he being summoned with an ED notice? “BJP members are roaming around claiming that Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested. How do BJP members know that the ED will arrest me? The BJP is talking about arresting me because they control the ED. Why would the ED arrest me right before the Lok Sabha elections? Because the BJP doesn’t want me to campaign in the elections,” he said. The sole purpose of this entire plan is to somehow prevent Arvind Kejriwal from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections by arresting him before the elections. This is the only objective of the BJP, he added.
Shri Kejriwal said he has responded to the ED’s notice today. “Now, let’s see what happens next,” he said.
Echoing similar views, Senior AAP Leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi, during a press conference on Thursday, exposed BJP’s conspiracies. She revealed to the media how the BJP aims to win elections not based on their performance but by using the CBI-ED.
Atishi said, “The script for ED summons is written at the BJP headquarters. First, the BJP decides whom to arrest, and based on that, the ED initiates its case and proceedings. She mentioned that the ED summonses are unlawful, and continuously sending them just before the Lok Sabha elections is evidence that this is entirely politically motivated. The only reason for BJP’s summons is that they don’t want Arvind Kejriwal to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.
She said, “Today, BJP’s only goal is either to put opposition leaders in jail or, through the intimidation of the ED-CBI, force them to join the BJP. The record of the last 6 months shows that, on the BJP’s signal, one after another, opposition leaders are being targeted by the CBI-ED. Because the BJP wants to win the Lok Sabha elections not on the strength of its 10-year performance but rather on the influence of the ED-CBI. She said that the BJP has been running the government in this country for 10 years. If they have the courage, they should showcase their achievements and contest elections on their own merits, instead of attempting to win elections through the means of the CBI-ED.
AAP leader Atishi said that when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal received the first summons from the ED, they had stated that it was not an ED summons but a BJP summons. Today, this was affirmed by BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia in a press conference. He stated that the ED will arrest Arvind Kejriwal and put him in jail.
“I would like to ask the BJP and its spokespersons how, when the ED is unaware and doesn’t specify in its summons whether it is calling Arvind Kejriwal as a witness or as an accused, the Bharatiya Janata Party knows that after these summonses or when Arvind Kejriwal goes to the ED, he will be arrested? How does the BJP know that these ED summonses are being sent to arrest Arvind Kejriwal?” She added.
AAP senior leader Atishi said that the BJP and its spokespersons know this because the script for ED summons is written at the BJP headquarters. First, the BJP decides whom to arrest, send to jail, and based on that, instructs the CBI-ED to initiate a case, issue summons, and conduct raids at homes. And this is exactly what is happening today in Delhi with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
She stated that an investigation into the alleged liquor scam has been going on for two years, with over 500 officers from the ED-CBI conducting it. However, even after two years, they haven’t found any evidence of corruption involving a single penny. Despite this, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is continuously getting summons.
Atishi said that these summonses are unlawful because the summons do not specify whether Arvind Kejriwal is being called as a witness or an accused, whether he is being summoned as the Chief Minister of Delhi, or as the National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party.
She mentioned that these summonses are illegal and sending them just before the Lok Sabha elections indicates that it is entirely politically motivated. What changed in these two years that suddenly within a month, the ED had to send four summonses? The only reason is that the Lok Sabha elections are approaching, and the BJP doesn’t want Arvind Kejriwal to campaign. Today, the sole aim of the BJP is either to put opposition leaders in jail or, through the intimidation of the ED-CBI, force them to join the BJP.
The record of the last 6 months indicates that one after another, opposition leaders are being targeted by the CBI-ED. Raids are conducted on them because the BJP aims to win elections not based on its 10-year performance but rather on the influence of the ED-CBI.
AAP leader Atishi mentioned that on the other hand, as soon as any opposition leader joins BJP, all the ED-CBI charges against them are dropped. A recent example the entire country witnessed is that of Chhagan Bhujbal, who was facing cases related to irrigation scam, Maharashtra Sadan scam, and many others for years under the CBI-ED. As soon as he joined the BJP, the ED went to the High Court and said they were closing the case because the file had gone missing.
This is the BJP’s attempt to either put opposition leaders in jail or intimidate them with the ED-CBI and force them to join the BJP.
She said, “I want to tell the BJP that they have been running the government in this country for 10 years. If they have the courage, they should showcase their achievements and contest elections on their own merits and not try to win elections by illegally using CBI or ED.”
