BJP war rages on, Arun Jaitley terms charges ‘untruth’

The Union government and the BJP closed ranks behind Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who has been accused by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of being involved in financial wrongdoing during his tenure as the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).

Jaitley said even though he is not concerned with cricket administration since 2013, a Member of Parliament has been writing to various governmental bodies with regard to Delhi’s cricket affairs and previous UPA government seized upon the opportunity and referred complaints to SFIO which investigated them and submitted a detailed report on March 21, 2013.

The strong rebuttal came hours after the AAP called for Jaitley’s resignation, saying a number of private firms were benefitted through false billing, duplication of work, skirting around financial norms and massive fraud in the DDCA that oversees cricket in the Capital. However, Delhi government has taken no action since last one month.

While the Trinamool Congress fully backed Kejriwal, the Congress treaded a cautious path on Tuesday, focussing on its own issues like its troubles with the governor of Arunachal Pradesh and attack on the ruling BJP over what they perceive as “political vendetta”.

Mr. Kejriwal’s office was raided by CBI on 15 December which prompted Mr. Kejriwal to say, “Which file was CBI looking for in my office? Why is he running away from investigations?” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader asked in a tweet. The initial budget was Rs 24 crore, but it eventually cost Rs 114 crore.

“A fair investigation is not possible into DDCAs irregularities until Jaitley remains Finance Minister.

On Jaitley’s part, the SFIO statement stated, he’s Leader of DDCA and it is “presiding within the conferences of Executive Committee (Board) just like a low-government chairman without participation in daily matters of the organization”.

Striking back at Arvind Kejriwal within the DDCA strip, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley charged him of distributing “fake propaganda”, stating he appears to have confidence in untruth and provides a vocabulary that edges on anxiety.

Asked how Jaitley can get a clean chit, Chauhan said, “No embezzlement took place during Jaitley’s tenure”.

The AAP said all attempts made by the Delhi Government to investigate the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scam have been thwarted by the Centre.

Speaking about the current scenario in the DDCA, he said, “The president after Jaitley ji, we have suspended him and matter us sub-judice”.

AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha listed many “irregularities”, starting with the reconstruction of Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Unauthorised and unapproved payments were made to professionals, including accountants, consultants and advocates. The Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium was renovated at a cost of over Rs. 900 crores and Dhyan Chand stadium was renovated at a cost of over Rs. 600 crores.