Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Thursday said he could be arrested by the time the election results are announced. The AAP national convenor was campaigning at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann after skipping summons by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into the money laundering linked to the Delhi liquor policy case.
“Standing in Delhi, they are threatening every day that they will arrest Kejriwal….It doesn’t matter if he arrests us, Kejriwal is not afraid of going to jail. You will arrest Kejriwal’s body… how will you arrest Kejriwal’s thoughts? You will arrest this one Kejriwal… how will you arrest thousands, lakhs and crores of Kejriwals?” NDTV quoted the Delhi Chief Minister as saying.
“The day the election results come, I don’t know whether I will be in jail or out… But wherever I am, I should hear that people are saying that Kejriwal had come to Singrauli and the people of Singrauli sent him back after giving a historic victory,” he added.
The Delhi Chief Minister was supposed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to give his statements in the Delhi liquor policy case, but he wrote to the agency asking them to withdraw the summons.
The ED notice was “politically motivated” to stop him from campaigning in the upcoming elections. Kejriwal also alleged that the notice was sent to him at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The summon notice is illegal and politically motivated. The notice was sent at the behest of the BJP. Notice was sent to ensure that I am unable to go for election campaigning in four states. ED should withdraw the notice immediately,” he wrote
“The said summons does not specify whether I am being summoned as an individual or in my official capacity as Chief Minister of Delhi or as National Convenor of AAP and appears to be in the nature of a fishing and roving inquiry,” Kejriwal added.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party said “BJP wants to arrest Arvind Kejriwal as per a planned political conspiracy.”
“It is clear that BJP wants to arrest Arvind Kejriwal as per a planned political conspiracy. BJP leader Manoj Tiwari’s statement proves this when he said “Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested”….The nation wants to know if as per a political conspiracy, it is being planned to finish AAP. BJP is misusing central agencies for this. Today morning, suddenly Raaj Kumar Anand’s premises were raided. What do you (BJP) want to do? BJP is scared that if all opposition parties come together, then it won’t be able to win Lok Sabha elections,” AAP minister Gopal Rai said.