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).
While Mr. Jaitley himself wrote an extensive blog post and issued statements defending himself, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani backed the Finance Minister with an interesting choice of words. “A leader with an impeccable record in public life, who has defended the Constitution, stands to be defamed by a blasphemous and hysterical campaign by the Aam Aadmi Party,” she said.
In his blog, Mr. Jaitley wrote: “Free speech is unquestionably a pre-eminent fundamental right, but does free speech include the right to speak only falsehood? The Delhi Chief Minister, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, seems to believe in untruth and defamation, delivered in a language that borders on hysteria.”
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He said the AAP was trying to deflect attention from the fact that Mr. Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar had been raided by the CBI on charges of corruption, and that by defending Mr. Kumar, the Chief Minister had been wrong-footed.
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“A few days ago, a secretary of the Delhi government was searched and arrested after being caught for allegedly accepting a bribe. The CBI had conducted the operation. The Delhi government welcomed the move. Four days later, another official close to the Chief Minister was searched for an alleged offence which related to the pre-Kejriwal period. The Chief Minister raised two pleas. First, that it violates the federal structure of the Constitution. In addition, the Chief Minister used unacceptable adjectives against the Prime Minister and, second, he questioned the purpose of the search and tried to divert attention by linking it to the Delhi cricket body rather than alleged corruption of this official,” he said.
Mr. Jaitley also said that, in this particular case, it was the State government and not the Centre challenging the spirit of federalism. “During the UPA government, the Delhi government, with no police or investigative powers, registered an FIR against two Union Cabinet Ministers of the UPA government for voluntarily implementing a decision of the Cabinet.”