Kejriwal’s Absence Anticipated: Delhi CM May Not Appear Before ED

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, originally set to respond to the Enforcement Directorate’s summons regarding the alleged excise policy scam on Thursday, is expected to forego the summons. Additionally, Kejriwal is scheduled to travel to Madhya Pradesh’s Singhrauli today for an election campaign.

These summons to Kejriwal were issued six months after he underwent a nearly nine-hour interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with this case. Kejriwal, in his response to the probe agency, denounced the summons as “illegitimate” and “politically motivated.” He further accused the Enforcement Directorate of acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asserted that the notice was intended to obstruct his election campaign efforts in the states set to go to polls.

The ED and CBI are investigating the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which has since been revoked, on allegations of favoring specific liquor dealers. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has vehemently refuted these allegations.

During a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday, AAP leader Raghav Chadha asserted that Chief Minister Kejriwal would likely be the inaugural figure arrested in the BJP’s purported strategy to single out prominent leaders of the INDIA alliance before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Chadha further alleged that, since 2014, approximately 95 percent of cases filed by investigative agencies have targeted opposition leaders.

“Now after the formation of the INDIA alliance, the BJP is rattled. We have learned from sources that they have hatched a plan to target top leaders from the INDIA alliance. The first arrest in this plan will be of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” he said.

“The BJP knows it is losing all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. It is planning to get Kejriwal arrested so that AAP is not able to contest the polls,” Chadha added.