Close X
Thursday, November 28, 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

    Nalanda Univerrsity Gets $1 Million From Indian-origin Couple

    Nalanda Univerrsity Gets $1 Million From Indian-origin Couple
    The endowment was made by Rajendra Joshi, who is now a Swiss citizen but who hails from Rajasthan, and his wife Ursula Joshi.

    Nalanda Univerrsity Gets $1 Million From Indian-origin Couple

    Somnath's Marital Dispute: Delhi Government Asks Him To Surrender

    "Somnath should surrender. Why is he running away? Why is he so scared of going to jail? Now he is becoming embarrassment for party n his family," the chief minister said in a tweet.

    Somnath's Marital Dispute: Delhi Government Asks Him To Surrender

    Ram's Birth Date, Mahabharata War... An Exhibition Cracks It All

    Ram's Birth Date, Mahabharata War... An Exhibition Cracks It All
    According to the exhibition, "Cultural Continuity from Rigveda to Robotics", Lord Ram was born on January 10 at 12.05 hours, 5114 BC and the Mahabharata war started on 13 October, 3139 BC

    Ram's Birth Date, Mahabharata War... An Exhibition Cracks It All

    Gujarat Has Most Diabetics In India: Report

    Over a quarter of India's diabetics, which number at least 559,718 though data from several states was not available, are in the state of Gujarat which has the highest number at 161,578.

    Gujarat Has Most Diabetics In India: Report

    Delhi High Court Says Somnath Violent, Outrageous; Denies Anticipatory Bail

    Delhi High Court Says Somnath Violent, Outrageous; Denies Anticipatory Bail
    The judge was referring to two cases pertaining to the January 2014 Khirki Extension midnight campaign that Bharti carried out against some women African nationals when he was Delhi's law minister.

    Delhi High Court Says Somnath Violent, Outrageous; Denies Anticipatory Bail

    Modi To Leave For Day-long Visit To Ireland, Then On To US Tour

    Modi To Leave For Day-long Visit To Ireland, Then On To US Tour
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves on Wednesday for a day-long visit to Ireland during which he will hold discussions with Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Modi will depart for New York the same evening for the US leg of his tour.

    Modi To Leave For Day-long Visit To Ireland, Then On To US Tour