Close X
Monday, December 2, 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

    People Retain Hope In Modi, But Time's Running Out

    People Retain Hope In Modi, But Time's Running Out
    The reason is, first, the realisation that one year is not a long enough to give a definitive judgment on the performance of a government, especially when it is emerging from the black hole of the failures of its predecessor.

    People Retain Hope In Modi, But Time's Running Out

    Jayalalithaa Becomes Tamil Nadu CM For Fifth Time

    AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time on Saturday, within a fortnight of the Karnataka High Court acquitting her in a corruption case.

    Jayalalithaa Becomes Tamil Nadu CM For Fifth Time

    Delhi Assembly Special Session Over Centre's Notification On Powers

    Delhi Assembly Special Session Over Centre's Notification On Powers
    The Delhi government has announced a special two-day session of the legislative assembly starting May 26 to discuss the response to the union home ministry notification that curbs its various powers.

    Delhi Assembly Special Session Over Centre's Notification On Powers

    NDA Graft-free Government, Boosting Cooperative Federalism: Arun Jaitley

    With one year of transparent, graft-free and decisive governance under the NDA, global business confidence in India is on the upswing and the economy poised to go on to a higher growth path, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

    NDA Graft-free Government, Boosting Cooperative Federalism: Arun Jaitley

    Jayalalithaa To Be Sworn In As Cm For Fifth Time On Saturday

    AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa will be sworn-in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time on Saturday, within less than a fortnight of the Karnataka High Court upholding her appeal and acquitting her in a corruption case.

    Jayalalithaa To Be Sworn In As Cm For Fifth Time On Saturday

    Video: Muslim Management Graduate Denied Job On Religious Grounds In Mumbai

    Video: Muslim Management Graduate Denied Job On Religious Grounds In Mumbai
    A management graduate here on Thursday lodged a police complaint accusing a leading diamond export firm of "religious discrimination" and refusing him a job because he was a Muslim.

    Video: Muslim Management Graduate Denied Job On Religious Grounds In Mumbai