Close X
Monday, November 25, 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

    Syed Ali Geelani Lauds Pakistan's Stand On Kashmir, Reveals Secret Letter

    Syed Ali Geelani Lauds Pakistan's Stand On Kashmir, Reveals Secret Letter
    Geelani expressed his views in a confidential letter to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, handed over by a three-member Hurriyat delegation to Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit in New Delhi on September 2.

    Syed Ali Geelani Lauds Pakistan's Stand On Kashmir, Reveals Secret Letter

    No Solution Yet On OROP, Talks Stuck Over Pension Revision

    No Solution Yet On OROP, Talks Stuck Over Pension Revision
    The stalemate over implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme continued on Thursday over the review period for pensions, as the protest by ex-servicemen entered its 81st day.

    No Solution Yet On OROP, Talks Stuck Over Pension Revision

    Uber Rape: Indian Woman, 26, Withdraws US Case

    Uber Rape: Indian Woman, 26, Withdraws US Case
    The 26-year-old woman filed her lawsuit in January in the US, about a month after she was allegedly raped and assaulted on a Uber ride in Delhi.

    Uber Rape: Indian Woman, 26, Withdraws US Case

    Zakir Hussain And Hariharan To Perform In US

    Zakir Hussain And Hariharan To Perform In US
    The two renowned musicians will perform several shows during their Hazir USA Tour 2015. 

    Zakir Hussain And Hariharan To Perform In US

    Oust Communal, Caste Leaders, Says Modi, Nitish Hits Back

    Oust Communal, Caste Leaders, Says Modi, Nitish Hits Back
    Addressing his fourth rally ahead of assembly elections, the prime minister also took credit for making Chief Minister Nitish Kumar speak on the development agenda.

    Oust Communal, Caste Leaders, Says Modi, Nitish Hits Back

    Three Arrested In Delhi For Extorting From NRIs From Britain

    Three Arrested In Delhi For Extorting From NRIs From Britain
    Gaurav Pingolia, 31, and Aman Chhabra, 24 -- both former students of Delhi University -- were arrested along with Pawan Kumar, 24, by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police on Saturday.

    Three Arrested In Delhi For Extorting From NRIs From Britain