Close X
Thursday, November 7, 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

    Why 'Strong' Akali Dal-BJP Ties Need Periodic Reaffirming

    Why 'Strong' Akali Dal-BJP Ties Need Periodic Reaffirming
    After every few months, Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance undergoes a self-imposed test to check whether or not its political bond is strong.

    Why 'Strong' Akali Dal-BJP Ties Need Periodic Reaffirming

    Punjab To Approach Madhya Pradesh High Court For Opium Ban

    Punjab To Approach Madhya Pradesh High Court For Opium Ban
    The Punjab government is contemplating filing a PIL in Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking ban on opium and poppy cultivation in the central state, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Friday.

    Punjab To Approach Madhya Pradesh High Court For Opium Ban

    Politics Of Sleaze Rages In Himachal Pradesh

    Politics Of Sleaze Rages In Himachal Pradesh
    At least two chief ministers, a senior BJP leader who is now a Lok Sabha member, a former union minister, a top police officer and now a senior cabinet minister in the Congress government here claim they have been victims of sleazy CDs and videos.

    Politics Of Sleaze Rages In Himachal Pradesh

    Narendra Modi Takes Dig At Sonia Gandhi's Son-in-Law Robert Vadra

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, referring to the "embarrassment" that in-laws often face from sons-in-law in politics.

    Narendra Modi Takes Dig At Sonia Gandhi's Son-in-Law Robert Vadra

    Rahul Gandhi 'A Baby In Diapers', Says BJP

    Rahul Gandhi 'A Baby In Diapers', Says BJP
    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday termed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi "a baby in diapers", following his remarks that people would reduce Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "56-inch chest to 5.6 inches".

    Rahul Gandhi 'A Baby In Diapers', Says BJP

    Rs.17 Crore Goes Down The Drain At Modi's Washed Out Varanasi Event

    Rs.17 Crore Goes Down The Drain At Modi's Washed Out Varanasi Event
    As rains led to the cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to his parliamentary constituency on Thursday, for the second time in the past one month, a staggering Rs.17 crore of the tax payer's money also has gone down the drain. Literally!

    Rs.17 Crore Goes Down The Drain At Modi's Washed Out Varanasi Event