New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday in the excise policy case, attacked the Centre saying some anti-national forces do not want India to develop. "Some anti-national forces do not want India to develop. I want to tell these forces that the country will continue to progress," Kejriwal told reporters outside his residence.
Kejriwal held a high-level meeting with top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday ahead of joining. The meeting was held at Kejriwal's residence. Several Delhi ministers, including Atishi, Kailash Gahlot, Rajkumar Anand, Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain, were present at the meeting. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan and Punjab Assembly speaker Sardar Kultar Singh Sandhwan also attended the meeting. AAP MPs Raghav Chadha, ND Gupta and Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel were also present at the meeting in Kejriwal's residence.
According to sources, the meeting was called to discuss the next course of action after Kejriwal's questioning by the CBI on Sunday. The Delhi CM on Sunday said the central agency will arrest him if the BJP government has given the orders. In a video message released on Sunday morning, Kejriwal said, "They (CBI) have called me today and I will definitely go. They are very powerful, they can send anyone to jail. If BJP has ordered CBI to arrest me, then CBI will obviously follow their instructions."
He further said, "You (BJP) say that I am corrupt. I was a Commissioner in the Income Tax department, I could have earned crores if I wanted to. If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest." Kejriwal will appear before the CBI on Sunday for questioning in connection with the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Union Territory government.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann would accompany Kejriwal to the CBI office on Sunday morning. During his visit to the CBI office, Kejriwal's cabinet colleagues and all the MPs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also accompany him to the CBI office. In a major development in the Delhi excise policy case, the CBI summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in connection with the liquor policy case on Sunday.
Meanwhile, AAP workers staged a protest in the national capital over party chief Kejriwal being summoned by the CBI on Sunday. Several AAP workers were detained by Delhi Police in Kashmiri Gate. "If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest," Delhi Chief Minister said on Saturday, a day after CBI summoned him for questioning in connection with the excise policy case.
Addressing a press conference, he said, "Tomorrow, they (CBI) have called me and I will definitely go. If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest... If BJP has ordered CBI to arrest me, then CBI will obviously follow their instructions."
Later, taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said appropriate cases will be filed against Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate officials for "perjury and producing false evidence in courts.
"We will file appropriate cases against CBI and ED officials for perjury and producing false evidence in courts," he tweeted.
Kejriwal also claimed that he knew he would be next in line to be summoned by the CBI since the day he spoke against corruption in the Delhi assembly.
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a key aide of Kejriwal, is in jail over alleged irregularities in the excise case.
Sisodia was arrested by ED and CBI in the ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy in Delhi.
The CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.
The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their account books to evade detection, the probe agencies said.