The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to publicly apologise to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for accusing him of corruption, pointing out that the inquiry panel set up by the State government to go into the alleged irregularities at the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), had found no evidence against him.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that Mr. Jaitley and the Centre had ‘misinterpreted’ the findings of the probe report.
Senior BJP leader and party spokesperson M.J. Akbar told a press conference here: “The truth is out. You [Kejriwal] have probed the matter for all possibilities. Your [Delhi] government-appointed committee has nowhere mentioned Jaitley’s name. It’s time you publicly apologised to Jaitley.”
The BJP launched a fresh salvo against the AAP chief after the report by a three-member panel set up by the Delhi government on November 12 — to investigate the DDCA affairs had nowhere mentioned Mr. Jaitley’s name. The report was submitted on November 17. “Mr. Kejriwal should accept his fault in the court as well — in the civil defamation case that has been filed against him and other members of AAP,” said Mr. Akbar.
He said even during the previous Congress regime an enquiry by the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) had found nothing against Mr. Jaitley. “That was also a conspiracy against Mr. Jaitley by the Congress but he [Mr. Jaitley] came out clean,” he added.
Mr. Akbar said after the report became public, the AAP was trying to bail itself out by saying that the said investigation was not meant to name any person.
‘False propaganda’
Jointly addressing the conference, BJP’s National Secretary Srikant Sharma lashed out at the AAP for doing the ‘politics of false propaganda and lies.’ However, the AAP continued its attack on Mr. Jaitley.
Challenging him to face the Commission of Inquiry, an independent body set up by the Delhi government last week to look into the irregularities pointed out in the earlier probe panel report, Mr. Kejriwal, tweeted, “Interesting to see how some media houses are desperately trying to prove Jaitley ji is innocent. Why is Jaitley ji afraid of facing enquiry? That’s the difference between BJP and AAP [sic]”.
AAP leader Ashutosh told a press conference that the BJP was claiming that the report had given Mr. Jaitley a clean chit. “If the BJP is so confident that the Finance Minister is innocent why is it running away from investigation? They should take it to the logical conclusion.”
