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

    Jayalalithaa Seeks Modi's Intervention In Indian Maid's Case

    "As you may be aware, Ms. Kasthuri has suffered grievous injuries, including a severed arm. Her life is reportedly at risk," she wrote to Modi on Friday.

    Jayalalithaa Seeks Modi's Intervention In Indian Maid's Case

    Panj Pyaras Hit Back, Order Sacking Of Five Jathedars Over Pardon To Dera Head

    None of the summoned high priests showed up to explain their decision to pardon the Dera chief for his act of imitating Guru Gobind Singh in 2007

    Panj Pyaras Hit Back, Order Sacking Of Five Jathedars Over Pardon To Dera Head

    Tension Grips Jammu Town Over Alleged Desecration Of Quran

    Tension Grips Jammu Town Over Alleged Desecration Of Quran
    Tension gripped the hilly Bhaderwah town in Jammu region on Friday over allegations that miscreants desecrated the Quran.

    Tension Grips Jammu Town Over Alleged Desecration Of Quran

    Protests Against Guru Granth Sahib Desecration Continue In Punjab

    Protests Against Guru Granth Sahib Desecration Continue In Punjab
    Protests against the recent desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib continued on Wednesday in various parts of Punjab as the state police said it had solved five of the seven cases.

    Protests Against Guru Granth Sahib Desecration Continue In Punjab

    V.K. Singh Stirs Row With 'Dog' Remark, Clarifies

    V.K. Singh Stirs Row With 'Dog' Remark, Clarifies
    As opposition parties demanded his sacking, the former army chief clarified that he had been misunderstood.

    V.K. Singh Stirs Row With 'Dog' Remark, Clarifies

    I Spoke With PM Modi On Food And Spices: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor

    I Spoke With PM Modi On Food And Spices: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor
    During Modi's trip to Abu Dhabi in August, Kapoor was flown in specially to prepare a vegetarian meal for the strictly vegetarian prime minister.

    I Spoke With PM Modi On Food And Spices: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor