Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
India

AAP, Congress Ask Arun Jaitley To Quit, CBI Rebuts Arvind Kejriwal

Darpan News Desk IANS, 16 Dec, 2015 12:28 PM
    The AAP and the Congress on Wednesday separately asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to resign over alleged wrongdoing in the Delhi cricket association which he once headed, even as the CBI denied again that it conducted searches at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office.
     
    Jaitley, former chairman of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), rubbished the charges against him. 
     
    "What is the specific allegation? I can't answer vague allegations without any basis," Jaitley told the media.
     
    Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party reiterated that the CBI did raid Kejriwal's office on Tuesday while targeting his Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar as it was looking for files related to the DDCA.
     
    Kejriwal tweeted that documents had indeed been seized from his office that were not linked to Rajendra Kumar. 
     
    He said CBI officials kept reading the DDCA file in his office. "They would have seized it. But after my media briefing, they left it. Not clear if they took a copy."
     
    Kejriwal added: "Finance minister lied in parliament... Why is Jaitleyji so scared of DDCA probe? What is his role in DDCA scam?"
     
    The CBI spokesperson countered that Kejriwal's office was neither searched nor sealed, and whatever was taken away was related to corruption allegations against Rajendra Kumar.
     
     
    "This information is being spread by certain quarters since yesterday to discredit the agency with intent to obstruct the investigation," the spokesperson said.
     
    Deputy Chief Minister and Kejriwal confidant Manish Sisodia demanded to know why the CBI seized the records of file movements of November-December this year if the agency was probing Rajendra Kumar's doings from 2007 to 2014.
     
    "I want to categorically say that it was CM's office where the raid was conducted, DDCA files were looked into," Sisodia said.
     
    The alleged search of Kejriwal's office rocked parliament for a second day, with Trinamool Congress members taking the lead. 
     
    Trinamool's Sudip Bandhopadhyay said the CBI should be renamed "GBI" -- Gujarat Bureau of Investigation.
     
    As AAP's most vocal Lok Sabha member, Bhagwant Mann raised slogans near Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's podium, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood up and offered him a glass of water.
     
    Ignoring the CBI denials, AAP leader Sanjay Singh insisted that the CBI did search Kejriwal's office and said Jaitley was involved in the what he claimed were huge financial bunglings in the DDCA.
     
    He said the AAP would make public the documents related to DDCA on Thursday.
     
    The Congress demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the alleged financial irregularities during Jaitley's tenure as the DDCA chief.
     
    Calling the Delhi government's threat to probe the charges as empty rhetoric, it said Jaitley should resign from the government until the JPC finished its probe.
     
    The Congress listed numerous alleged wrongdoings which it said took place during Jaitley's tenure as DDCA chief from 1999 to 2013. 
     
    Meanwhile, social activist Anna Hazare questioned the CBI's raid but said Kejriwal should have checked officer Rajendra Kumar's background before appointing him as his principal secretary.
     
    "From the beginning Arvind has been fighting corruption. I have always told him that 'you should have people with strong character around you'."

    MORE India ARTICLES

    India To Buy 36 Rafale Jets In Fly-away Condition: Modi

    India To Buy 36 Rafale Jets In Fly-away Condition: Modi
    The decision is among the several agreements reached between the two countries after his meeting with French President Francois Hollande here. 

    India To Buy 36 Rafale Jets In Fly-away Condition: Modi

    Rise And Fall Of Ramalinga Raju, The Bill Gates Of Andhra Pradesh

    Rise And Fall Of Ramalinga Raju,  The Bill Gates Of Andhra Pradesh
    He was once considered the IT czar and the Bill Gates of Andhra Pradesh, who founded and built Satyam into one of the top IT companies in India.

    Rise And Fall Of Ramalinga Raju, The Bill Gates Of Andhra Pradesh

    Woman Car Driver Crushes Man To Death In Delhi

    Woman Car Driver Crushes Man To Death In Delhi
    A 27-year-old woman was arrested for mowing down a man under the wheels of her car in the national capital, police said on Thursday.

    Woman Car Driver Crushes Man To Death In Delhi

    Haryana Builds A Case For A Separate High Court

    Haryana Builds A Case For A Separate High Court
    Haryana is demanding a separate high court for itself, saying even smaller northeastern states have their own high courts.

    Haryana Builds A Case For A Separate High Court

    Arun Jaitley Promises More, As Moody's Turns Positive On India

    Arun Jaitley Promises More, As Moody's Turns Positive On India
    Sixteen months after it warned of a downgrade, ratings agency Moody's on Thursday raised its outlook on India to positive, hoping for further steps from the Narendra Modi government to push growth. The finance ministry said this was significant and promised more.

    Arun Jaitley Promises More, As Moody's Turns Positive On India

    Punjab BJP MP Wants Dope Tests On Jail Staff, Inmates

    Punjab BJP MP Wants Dope Tests On Jail Staff, Inmates
    A senior BJP leader from Punjab has urged the NHRC to get dope tests conducted on officials posted in jails across the country, especially in the state.

    Punjab BJP MP Wants Dope Tests On Jail Staff, Inmates