Kirti Azad, Congress target Jaitley over DDCA row in House

BJP MP Kirti Azad.

The row over alleged financial bungling in DDCA resonated in Parliament on Monday with BJP member Kirti Azad embarrassing the ruling side by demanding time-bound SIT probe while Congress pressed for resignation of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who dismissed charges against him as “baseless” and “wrong”.

Congress staged a walkout in Lok Sabha, which was led by party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Ruling out Mr. Jaitley’s resignation, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said that the Finance Minister is known for his “impeccable character, honesty and maintaining high standards in public life”.

Mr. Jaitley said, “The charges (against me) are baseless and wrong. This is all I have to say.”

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) report did not find any fault with the expenditure and “accepted” the cost incurred, he said while giving a detailed account of the construction work at Ferozshah Kotla ground, which is under scanner.

Mr. Azad was apparently not impressed by Mr. Jaitley’s defence that SFIO probe found nothing wrong, saying it had looked only into the civil matters and that recently the CBI had issued a notice to DDCA.

Who said what

“ Modi is a coward and a psyhcopath... When Modi couldn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice. ”

“ Mr. Kejriwal seems to believe in untruth and defamation, delivered in a language that borders on hysteria. ”

“ Don’t go by rumours that I have been gagged, my fight is against corruption in sports and it shall continue ”

How the events unfolded

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CBI raids the Delhi CM ‘s office.

A Central Bureau of Investigation raid on the secretariat of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday morning triggered a political storm, with a united opposition accusing the Narendra Modi government of political vendetta using the CBI. Following the raid, the Delhi CM was locked out of his office for the day. Read more

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Kejriwal takes to Twitter

CBI raids my office

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015

When Modi cudn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) >December 15, 2015

Modi is a coward and a psycopath

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) >December 15, 2015

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Parliament disrupted

Parliament saw an uproar over the raid on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office, with Opposition parties rallying behind the AAP leader. Rajya Sabha was adjourned after uproar over CBI raids at Delhi Secretariat. Read more

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Government responds

Centre said the raids were conducted on Mr. Kejriwal's Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar who has been named as an accused in a corruption case.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar reacts to the Delhi raids (watch)

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Who is Rajendra Kumar?

• » Principal Secretary of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
• » An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official belonging to the 1989 batch of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre.
• »The Hindu has learnt that Mr. Kejriwal had first received a complaint alleging that Mr. Kumar was involved in graft from international anti-graft watchdog Transparency International India on May 27, 2015.

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Kejriwal names Jaitley

On December 15th evening, Mr. Kejriwal organised a press conference during which he claimed the CBI sleuths were looking for files pertaining to the DDCA scam.

The real purpose of the CBI raid in his office was to spirit away a file in which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the central figure in a scam pertaining to the Delhi and District Cricket Association, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has alleged.

“Which file was CBI looking for in my office? DDCA files in which Arun Jaitley is in dock. I was about to order a commission of enquiry,” he later tweeted.

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More ‘Evidence’

Terming the alleged DDCA scam as the 'Commonwealth Games Scam of Cricket,' AAP held a press conference to 'expose' the alleged massive corruption in DDCA, when it was headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Read more

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Jaitley’s response

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused Kejriwal of spreading “false propaganda”, saying he seems to believe in untruth and defamation and delivers a language that borders on hysteria.

By referring to some facts of 2014 and 2015, Mr. Kejriwal cannot drag him in the Delhi cricket body case as he left cricket administration in 2013, he said. Read more

DDCA Scam

• What - The AAP alleged huge financial irregularities in DDCA during Arun Jaitley’s 13 year-old tenure as its chief, saying large amounts were siphoned off through fake companies besides other irregularities including in team selection.
• When - BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad had earlier in 2014 alleged irregularities in the functioning of DDCA. The Delhi government had set up a committee to inquire the alleged DDCA scam after they received several complaints.
• Who - The AAP is demanding an investigation against Mr. Jaitley and other office-bearers of the DDCA. Mr. Jaitley was the patron-in-chief of the DDCA until December 2014.
• Then - Delhi's ruling party alleged that the CBI raid on Arvind Kejriwal's top officer Rajendra Kumar was linked to a DDCA file in the Chief Minister's office.