New Delhi : A day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody until April 15, AAP Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday said that Kejriwal will run the government from jail as the party MLAs don't want him to resign.
AAP MLAs of the Delhi Assembly met Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of jailed CM Arvind Kejriwal, on Tuesday in the national capital. Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody until April 15 and is lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with a money-laundering case linked to a liquor excise policy scam.
"The party MLAs on Tuesday met Arvind Kejriwal's wife, Sunita Kejriwal and asserted that the Delhi chief minister should continue to run the government from jail and not step down," Saurabh Bharadwaj said while addressing a press conference in the national capital.
Bharadwaj said that during the meeting, the AAP MLAs told Sunita Kejriwal that two crore people in Delhi stand with the chief minister and he should not resign at any cost.
Hitting out at the BJP-led central government, the AAP leader said, "BJP thinks that we should give the Chief Minister post to them. We will not give it to them. They might be anxious, but things will go on like this."
Following the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in alleged liquor scam linked money laundering case, Sunita has been holding digital briefings similar to the ones that used to done by him, prior to his being taken into custody.
Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi today said that the AAP chief, who has been sent by a Delhi to judicial custody till April 15 and lodged in Tihar Jail, has not been convicted in the case and will continue to remain in the post.
"There are two constitutional and legal provisions related to this in our country. Representation of the People Act says that if you have a conviction for more than two years, then you cannot remain a public representative. Arvind Kejriwal has not been convicted...
Arvind Kejriwal enjoys overwhelming majority of the Delhi Assembly, so there is no reason for Arvind Kejriwal to resign. If Arvind Kejriwal resigns today then it will be a very simple and straightforward solution for the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple the opposition governments," Atishi said.
On Sunday, in her first appearance on a public platform since the arrest of her husband by the ED Sunita Kejriwal delivered the message by Arvind Kejriwal to the nation from ED custody. It consisted of six guarantees to the country, on behalf of the INDIA bloc, aimed at creating "a new India".
On Sunday, in her first appearance on a public platform since the arrest of her husband by the ED Sunita Kejriwal delivered the message by Arvind Kejriwal to the nation from ED custody. It consisted of six guarantees to the country, on behalf of the INDIA bloc, aimed at creating "a new India".
The case arose out of a report submitted by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena in July 2022, pointing to alleged procedural lapses in the formulation of the policy.
The report said "arbitrary and unilateral decisions" taken by Delhi's former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his capacity as Excise Minister had resulted in "financial losses to the exchequer" estimated at more than Rs 580 crore. This report was referred to the CBI and led to Sisodia's arrest.
The ED alleged that the "scam" was to give the wholesale liquor business to private entities and fix a 12 per cent margin, for a 6 per cent kickback. In its first prosecution complaint in November 2021, the ED said the policy was "formulated with deliberate loopholes" that "promoted cartel formations through the back door" to benefit AAP leaders.
The ED also alleged that AAP leaders received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore from a group of individuals identified as the "South Group".