Close X
Friday, November 29, 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 Spurns Pakistani Invite As 'Symbolic Protest'

    Syed Ali Geelani Spurns Pakistani Invite As 'Symbolic Protest'
    Hardline senior separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani on Tuesday said he would not attend the 'Eid Milan' function at the Pakistan High Commission on July 21 as a "symbolic protest".

    Syed Ali Geelani Spurns Pakistani Invite As 'Symbolic Protest'

    27 Hindu Pilgrims Die In Andhra Pradesh Stampede

    27 Hindu Pilgrims Die In Andhra Pradesh Stampede
    At least 27 pilgrims were killed and over 60 injured on Tuesday in a horrific stampede here at the start of the Godavari 'Maha Pushkaralu' -- the Kumbh Mela of the south, officials and witnesses said.

    27 Hindu Pilgrims Die In Andhra Pradesh Stampede

    Honest decision, justice for Indian cricket: Lalit Modi

    Honest decision, justice for Indian cricket: Lalit Modi
    Great outcome for justice and integrity. No surprise, first honest decision on Indian cricket and it comes from outside the BCCI. Lodha committee report is just the first step. It is not an end but has to be taken as a starting point. 

    Honest decision, justice for Indian cricket: Lalit Modi

    1984 Riots: When Silence Spoke So Unmistakably

    1984 Riots: When Silence Spoke So Unmistakably
    Sanjay Suri is the author of '1984 - the Anti-Sikh Violence and After'. He was a young crime reporter with The Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards on 31 October 1984. 

    1984 Riots: When Silence Spoke So Unmistakably

    India Clears Defence Purchases Worth Over Rs.29,000 Crore

    India Clears Defence Purchases Worth Over Rs.29,000 Crore
    India on Tuesday cleared defence purchases worth over Rs.29,000 crore ($4.5 billion) at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC).

    India Clears Defence Purchases Worth Over Rs.29,000 Crore

    Pak High Commision Invites Kashmir Separatists For Eid Milan

    Pak High Commision Invites Kashmir Separatists For Eid Milan
    The Pakistan High Commission in India has invited Hurriyat leaders and other separatists from Kashmir to its Eid Milan party to be held on July 21.

    Pak High Commision Invites Kashmir Separatists For Eid Milan