Close X
Friday, November 8, 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

    6.7-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Nepal

    6.7-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Nepal
    A 6.7-magnitude earthquake jolted the quake-hit Nepal again on Sunday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

    6.7-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Nepal

    Aam Aadmi Party Infighting Trips Further Growth In Punjab

    Aam Aadmi Party Infighting Trips Further Growth In Punjab
    The latest developments in the Aam Aadmi Party have put three of its four MPs from Punjab on the side of AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The fourth, cardiologist, social worker and Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, is in the camp of ousted rebels Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.

    Aam Aadmi Party Infighting Trips Further Growth In Punjab

    India's Foreign Exchange Reserves At Record High Of $343 Billion

    India's Foreign Exchange Reserves At Record High Of $343 Billion
    India's foreign exchange reserves touched a record high of $343.2 billion for the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India's data showed on Friday.

    India's Foreign Exchange Reserves At Record High Of $343 Billion

    First Look: Sunita Williams Visits Taj Mahal

    First Look: Sunita Williams Visits Taj Mahal
    Renowned astronaut Sunita Williams, who spent a record 195 days in space, has visited the Taj Mahal with her sister.

    First Look: Sunita Williams Visits Taj Mahal

    Ritu Beri Meets Prime Minister Modi, Calls Him A 'True Star'

    Ritu Beri Meets Prime Minister Modi, Calls Him A 'True Star'
    Internationally acclaimed Indian designer Ritu Beri met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and found him to be a “true star”.

    Ritu Beri Meets Prime Minister Modi, Calls Him A 'True Star'

    15-Year-Old Girl Stabbed 50 Times With Scissors Near Vrindavan

    15-Year-Old Girl Stabbed 50 Times With Scissors Near Vrindavan
    A 15-year-old girl is in a serious condition in a hospital after she was stabbed 50 times with a scissors early on Thursday morning by an unidentified assailant, police said.

    15-Year-Old Girl Stabbed 50 Times With Scissors Near Vrindavan