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

    Sikh Youths Set Aside The Religious Code, Use Turbans To Save Eight Men From Drowning

    Sikh Youths Set Aside The Religious Code, Use Turbans To Save Eight Men From Drowning
    The incident occurred on Friday when a group of youngsters from Sarrafa Bazaar had gone for Ganesha idol “visarjan” in a canal and they lost their balance to gushing water at Sular Ghaat near Sunam village.

    Sikh Youths Set Aside The Religious Code, Use Turbans To Save Eight Men From Drowning

    Radical Sikh Groups Oppose Akal Takht 'Pardon' To Dera Sacha Sauda Chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

    Radical Sikh Groups Oppose Akal Takht 'Pardon' To Dera Sacha Sauda Chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
    Radical Sikh organisations, Dal Khalsa and Shiromani Akali Dal (Panch Pardani), held a silent protest outside the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikh religion, to object to the pardon.

    Radical Sikh Groups Oppose Akal Takht 'Pardon' To Dera Sacha Sauda Chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

    Sports And Theatre Worlds Unite To Pay Tribute To Tenor Michael Burgess

    Sports And Theatre Worlds Unite To Pay Tribute To Tenor Michael Burgess
    The musical theatre star — who spellbound audiences as Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" and became well-known to hockey fans for his stirring renditions of "O Canada" — died Monday after a lengthy battle with cancer.

    Sports And Theatre Worlds Unite To Pay Tribute To Tenor Michael Burgess

    Modi's Visit To Silicon Valley: Beyond The Hype Were Clear Goals

    Modi's Visit To Silicon Valley: Beyond The Hype Were Clear Goals
    All prime ministerial visits are calibrated for a specific goal, be it economic, diplomatic, political or cultural. That is true of all Indian prime ministers but it is especially true of Narendra Modi.

    Modi's Visit To Silicon Valley: Beyond The Hype Were Clear Goals

    International Trips By Indians To Rise By 45 Percent In 2015: Study

    International Trips By Indians To Rise By 45 Percent In 2015: Study
    The average number of international trips by Indians is set to increase by 45 percent in 2015, according to a study by travel site TripAdvisor.

    International Trips By Indians To Rise By 45 Percent In 2015: Study

    No Evidence Against Manmohan Singh In Coal Case: CBI

    No Evidence Against Manmohan Singh In Coal Case: CBI
    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told a special court that there is no prima facie evidence against former prime minister Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case allegedly involving Jindal group firms.

    No Evidence Against Manmohan Singh In Coal Case: CBI