New Delhi [India], January 15 : After the Centre granted the ED the nod to prosecute him and Manish Sisodia in an alleged liquor scam case, AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that they (BJP) are contesting the Delhi Assembly Polls this way.
On being asked by the reporters outside the party office when he was enrooted to file his nomination, Kejriwal said, "Woh uss tarah see chunav lad rahe hain, hum is tarah see chunav lad rahe hain."
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has authorized the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to initiate prosecution against former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for their alleged involvement in money laundering linked to the liquor scam case.
The sanction order against these Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders was received earlier this month in a fresh development to the case pertaining to the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy for 2021-22.
The move comes as the two leaders are out on bail in the case as the Supreme Court in September last year ordered Arvind Kejriwal to be released on regular bail as well as Manish Sisodia a month ago in August in cases linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.
The development is significant as a special PMLA court in Delhi had delayed the framing of charges against Arvind Kejriwal after he challenged the trial court's decision to take cognizance of the chargesheet in the absence of specific sanctions for prosecution under PMLA.
BJP candidate Parvesh Verma BJP candidate responded to the devlopments saying that Kejriwal was building his house when the residents of Delhi were suffering from COVID.
"We all know what a big sin Arvind Kejriwal had committed. When COVID was spreading in the whole world, people were dying, at that time he was making the liquor policy...When people were asking for medicines, asking for houses, he was building his 'Sheesh Mahal'. The person who was elected by the people of Delhi was building his 'Sheesh Mahal' but did not provide medicines to the people," he said.
However, AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar questioned the timing of the prosecution and said that this has been done when the elections are near.
"This will be the first such case in the history of the country where you jailed Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Both were granted bail from the trial court and even from the Supreme Court...After two years, you gave sanction to prosecute and this is when the elections are near. Their same old routine is to file false cases and defame the leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party. But now the public has understood everything," the AAP leader said.