Kejriwal-BJP Tug of War Escalates as Jaitley Steps in to Clarify

“The committee on November 17 gave a report to the Chief Minister highlighting glaring irregularities in DDCA and recommended setting up of a Commission of Enquiry to thoroughly probe the matter”, said Chadha.

In a statement issued by Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha and senior party spokesman Ajay Maken, the Congress alleged efforts were being made to save Mr. Jaitley and his colleagues from “speedy inquiry and prosecution for serious financial irregularities”.

The AAP had claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation raided Kejriwal’s office on Tuesday while targeting his Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar as it was looking for files related to the Delhi District Cricket Association.

The sharp reply to a reporter was seen as reflecting Jaitley’s exasperation with the failure of the party under different presidents to act against Azad who has tormented him by levelling allegations which are at the root of his current problem.

In a media interaction, Chauhan said, “We don’t want to hide anything, all allegations are baseless”.

The BJP leader said the Kejriwal government was on several occasions warned of corruption charges against his principal secretary but he chose to ignore them. The Chief Minister’s office was raided. “Delhi Government does not have jurisdiction to do so”, he said. This is not the case.

Naidu said that the Government has already given its formulation on the three main demands raised by Congress and it is now up to it to respond. He further added that UPA government investigated the case and found nothing. The decision to hike MLA salaries by 40 per cent created uproar among the public.

Objecting to the use of language by Kejriwal, the Finance Minister said, the adjectives used by him against the Prime Minister are “not in consonance with the deferal spirit”.

“They can tell me what is the specific issue and I can answer it. I can’t answer a vague allegation without any basis”.

AAP alleged fake bills were paid for without mandatory documents.

Full marks to Arvind Kejriwal. “He made sure that all the control is in the hands of the government”, Maken alleged.

Azad is a BJP MP from Bihar. I have not been gagged.

“I will keep on fighting corruption”.

Stepping up for the GST to pass the finance minister said that the country has seen less than normal monsoon for 2 years in a row.

Azad has been a long-standing critic of corruption in DDCA.

The BJP fielded HRD Minister Smriti Irani to say that the party “resolutely stands behind” the finance minister who has an “impeccable” political record. The Aam Aadmi Party website on Thursday had Bedi’s tweets on AAP’s charges on DDCA-Jaitley with Kejriwal’s own.

Party spokesman Raghav Chadha said: “The bunglings had happened under direct or indirect consent of Arun Jaitley during his tenure as DDCA chief”.

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.