Arvind Kejriwal arrest | updates

AAP’s Haryana unit president Sushil Gupta said, “This is a black day for democracy. The BJP is already trying to destroy the country’s democracy .You have arrested him, how will you stop his ideology?” 

In a video which he posted on X, Mr. Gupta further said that the party’s Haryana unit has decided to gherao Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s Kurukshetra residence on March 22.

“This period is an undeclared emergency created by BJP. The party, scared of the INDIA alliance, is conspiring to stop Arvind Kejriwal. Pressure is being put on him to separate from the INDIA alliance, but BJP does not know that the entire country stands with Kejriwal. I am going to Delhi immediately..,” Mr. Gupta said in a post on X.

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema lambasted the BJP-led Union government for Kejriwal’s arrest.

“Today I strongly condemn the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal by ED. This dictatorial regime is making a mockery of constitutional norms and killing the spirit of democracy by destroying the opposition in every way. This shows the fear of BJP and today’s action is the beginning of the end of BJP,” Cheema in a post on X.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in a post on on X, said,”BJP’s political team ED, cannot imprison Kejriwal’s thinking..because only AAP can stop the BJP. Thinking can never be suppressed”.

One of the most immediate fallout of the arrest of Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been the closing ranks by Opposition leaders of the INDIA bloc.

From Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch Lalu Pradad Yadav to CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, senior political leaders jumped in to defend the bureaucrat-turned-politician, whose rise in politics a little over a decade ago was at the cost of many of these established players. 

In politics, time is of the essence and the Opposition parties would use the arrest to further their allegation that central agencies are being forced to settle political scores in election season. 

- Sandeep Phukan

Every corner of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence was searched, and the ED got ₹70,000 in cash only, which they returned, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

AAP’s Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai said that the party will protest outside the BJP headquarters at 10 a.m. on March 22. 

The headquarters are a stone’s throw away from the Rouse Avenue court where Mr. Kejriwal will be produced tomorrow. 

The party will also hold protests across the nation, Mr. Rai added.

AAP’s Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai gave a call for a nationwide protest against the BJP following Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.

Mr. Rai said Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest is the “murder of democracy” and an “announcement of dictatorship”.

- PTI

No special Supreme Court bench was being set up on Thursday night to hear Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy-linked money laundering case, sources said.

They said the plea was likely to be heard on Friday.

- PTI

The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal clearly shows that instead of fighting the opposition democratically, BJP wants to fight the elections under the cover and strong support of investigative agencies and other constitutional institutions. The NDA government has imposed an undeclared emergency in the country, violating political, democratic and constitutional morality and dignity.

We all stand firmly with the extremely popular government of the people of Delhi. As we all had openly declared from Patna and Mumbai – we are not the ones who are afraid but are the ones who fight and win.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called for a nationwide protest outside BJP offices against CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by ED, Delhi Minister Gopal Rai said.

AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “The ED did not find any evidence during search of CM Kejriwal’s residence, it found ₹70,000 that they returned. They took away his phone.”

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) stronly condemned the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in “a fabricated case”. 

The ED’s action is virtually a replay of what transpired during the arrest last week of BRS leader K. Kavitha, who is now in ED custody in the same case.

The ED had recently alleged in a statement that BRS leader Kavitha and some others “conspired” with top AAP leaders like Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Sisodia to get favours in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy by paying ₹100 crore to the political party that rules Delhi.

Ms. Kavitha, the MLC daughter of former Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested by the federal agency last week from her Hyderabad home and she is in custody till March 23.

BRS Working President K.T. Rama Rao said, “The ED and the CBI have become the chief instruments of repression in the hands of BJP. Political opponents are targeted on unsubstantiated grounds & political vendetta is their sole purpose.”

A large number of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters launched an indefinite dharna in Odisha’s capital demanding the immediate release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The supporters, led by AAP’s Odisha unit convenor Nishikant Mohapatra, sat on dharna at Master Canteen Square.

“We will continue the dharna here till Kejriwal is released,” Mr. Mohapatra said, adding that the Delhi CM’s arrest is a clear attack on democracy.

Mr. Mohapatra said it is not an attack on AAP alone, but on all the people of the country.

PTI

Opposition parties in Assam have termed the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a “barbaric act” of the BJP and a “murder of democracy” and asserted that the people of India will give a befitting reply to the saffron party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi in a series of posts on X slammed the arrest by the Central agency and termed it an action of the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was taken out of his residence around 11 p.m., escorted by Delhi Police. Protests erupted outside his residence after his arrest. The Delhi Police has also detained around two dozen Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers, including MLAs, who were trying to block the road near the CM’s residence.

Goa Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Amit Palekar hit out at the BJP over the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said the action is meant to stop him from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Mr. Palekar said Mr.Kejriwal’s arrest is nothing but an act of political vendetta and shows the BJP fears losing the Lok Sabha polls.

“We will be approaching the Supreme Court against the arrest,” he said.

PTI

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned ED’s late-night arrest of his New Delhi counterpart, Arvind Kejriwal. 

In a statement, Mr. Vijayan said, “Those who dread the process of democracy had orchestrated the arrest on the cusp of the Lok Sabha (LS) elections. They were attempting to stifle democracy and squash dissent using arrest as a political tool.”

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The arrogant BJP, which makes false claims of victory every day, is trying to weaken the Opposition by all means and illegal means before the elections”.

“If there was real confidence of victory then the accounts of the main Opposition party, the Congress party, would not have been frozen by misusing the constitutional institutions.

Leaders of Opposition parties are not targeted right before the elections. The truth is that BJP is already scared of the upcoming election results and in panic is creating all kinds of problems for the Opposition. It’s time for change!” Mr. Kharge added.

Expressing his shock at the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on X said, “If a model code of conduct exists to prevent the government from taking decisions that could favour the ruling party, why would a similar code not apply to government departments like IT and ED, whose actions are directly interfering with the functioning of democracy? It is clear that the opposition in key places will go into the elections with its hands& feet tied, and on a playing field that is far from level”

Reacting to Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are in panic over people’s rejection.

The BJP demanded Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s immediate resignation.

“Today every citizen of Delhi is satisfied that the Chief Minister, implicated in allegations of corruption, has finally been arrested,” Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva told reporters.

“The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal is the defeat of corruption. Mr. Kejriwal should resign immediately,” he said.

PTI

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest in an excise policy-linked money laundering case shows the BJP was scared of the Opposition and the party-led NDA was nowhere close to winning 400 Lok Sabha seats.

The Rajya Sabha MP dubbed Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest as “murder of democracy”.

“With the political arrest of another sitting CM, Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP government, its Extended Department have made it clear that they aren’t anywhere close to winning 400 seats.

PTI

Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely along with Delhi Congress leaders head for CM’s residence. They have a seat 4-3 sharing deal as part of INDIA alliance in Delhi.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said ahead of Lok Sabha polls, “driven by fear of a decade of failures and the imminent defeat, the fascist BJP Government sinks to despicable depths by arresting Arvind Kejriwal. following the unjust targeting of brother Hemant Soren.

Nationalist Congress party working president Supriya Sule said she stands in solidarity with Arvind Kejriwal. “This is yet another politically motivated arrest by the ED at the behest of the BJP Government to suppress the voice of the Opposition and undermine the electorate at large. We are resilient and united in our fight for constitutional democracy,” she said.

“A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy. While capturing all the institutions including the media, breaking up the parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the account of the main Opposition party was not enough for the ‘devilish power’, now the arrest of the elected Chief Ministers has also become a common thing. INDIA will give a befitting reply to this,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on X.

The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy scam case has posed a leadership crisis question before the AAP as well as the Delhi Government, with his wife Sunita Kejriwal and Cabinet Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj being talked about as his possible replacement.

The challenge before the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) now is to come up with a worthy leader who could handle both the party and its government in Delhi in absence of Mr. Kejriwal.

However, it’s indeed a big task for the AAP leadership to come up with a name of a leader that at least comes closer to Mr. Kejriwal’s stature as convener of the party since its inception in 2012 and holding Delhi Chief Minister’s post for three terms spanning nearly a decade.

PTI

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said he strongly condemns the “vindictive misuse of Central agencies to target the Opposition, especially as general elections loom. This arrest showcases the depth to which BJP will stoop for power. ‘INDIA’ stands united against this unconstitutional action against Arvind Kejriwal.”

Delhi Minister Atishi said a legal team is heading to the residence of the Registrar of the Supreme Court to seek “quashing” of the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

In a post on X, the AAP leader said, “We have moved the Supreme Court for quashing the arrest of Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal, by ED. We have asked for an urgent hearing by the Supreme Court tonight itself.” In another post, she said, “Our legal team is heading to the residence of the Registrar of the Supreme Court, to ask for an urgent hearing.” 

Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said, “We vehemently condemn the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, an elected CM, especially when EC is in charge & MCC is in place.”

Soon after the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said targeting the AAP leader during elections is wrong and unconstitutional, and lowering the level of politics in such a manner neither suits the Prime Minister nor the BJP-led Centre.

“Targeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in this manner during elections is completely wrong and unconstitutional. Lowering the level of politics in this manner suits neither the Prime Minister nor his government.

PTI

Hours after the high court denied him relief, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal evening rushed to the Supreme Court seeking protection from coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

Putting at rest the speculation that the AAP national convernor may seek urgent hearing tonight in the apex court, his counsel and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi told PTI that no such move is in the offing.

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that there was a “huge conspiracy” behind Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and accused the BJP of stooping to any level to make him bow down.

Delhi Ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi and other AAP leaders and workers gathered outside the Chief Minister’s residence.

Security was beefed up around Mr. Kejriwal’s Civil Lines residence in the evening with the deployment of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) units, along with Delhi Police personnel, as ED officials reached there.

PTI

Delhi Cabinet minister Atishi said Arvind Kejriwal will continue as the Chief Minister and run the city government from prison if needed after his arrest by the ED in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

She also said that the Aam Aadmi Party has moved the Supreme Court against the action by the federal agency.

“He will continue as the chief minister of Delhi. If need be, he will run the government from jail. There is no rule that stops him from running the government from jail,” Ms. Atishi told reporters.

PTI