Close X
Wednesday, November 6, 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

    Delhi Uber Driver Gets Life In Jail Till Death For Rape

    Delhi Uber Driver Gets Life In Jail Till Death For Rape
    "Every woman needs to feel secure in her motherland which necessarily demands dealing with such offenders with an iron hand," Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja said.

    Delhi Uber Driver Gets Life In Jail Till Death For Rape

    70-Year-Old Woman Found With Throat Slit In Delhi

    70-Year-Old Woman Found With Throat Slit In Delhi
    The woman -- identified as Hasina -- was found with multiple injuries in her home in Mayur Vihar area of east Delhi.

    70-Year-Old Woman Found With Throat Slit In Delhi

    Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal In Trouble Over Guru Granth Sahib Sacrilege

    Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal In Trouble Over Guru Granth Sahib Sacrilege
    At age 88, Parkash Singh Badal, the country's oldest chief minister and one of India's most experienced politicians, is suddenly finding Punjab difficult to handle - or so it seems.

    Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal In Trouble Over Guru Granth Sahib Sacrilege

    Manpreet Vohra India's New Envoy To Afghanistan

    Manpreet Vohra India's New Envoy To Afghanistan
    Vohra, presently working as joint secretary in the external affairs, is expected to take up his assignment shortly, the statement said.

    Manpreet Vohra India's New Envoy To Afghanistan

    PM Modi Targets Sonia Gandhi Over Anti-Sikh Riots

    PM Modi Targets Sonia Gandhi Over Anti-Sikh Riots
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying its leaders had no right to talk about tolerance when they were involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

    PM Modi Targets Sonia Gandhi Over Anti-Sikh Riots

    Sonia Gandhi-Led Congress To Stage March Against 'Intolerance'

    Sonia Gandhi-Led Congress To Stage March Against 'Intolerance'
    Congress president Sonia Gandhi will lead her party's protest march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday against "rising intolerance" during the BJP-led government's tenure.

    Sonia Gandhi-Led Congress To Stage March Against 'Intolerance'