BJP MP Kirti Azad, who has been campaigning against alleged corruption in Delhi’s cricket body, on Sunday addressed a press conference in the national capital but did not name Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, under whose charge as president of DDCA he claimed there were financial bungling.
Flanked by former cricketers Bishen Singh Bedi and Surinder Khanna, Mr. Azad repeatedly said there was no personal fight in his principled campaign but played footage of a DDCA AGM of 2011-12, which purportedly showed Mr. Azad questioning Mr. Jaitley, who was in the chair.
Asked repeatedly as to why he was not taking the name of Mr. Jaitley and what his allegations against him were, Mr. Azad said there was no personal or political fight. “It is a matter of principles and we have been fighting this battle for the last nine years,” he said.
Asked whether he has been gagged by party president Amit Shah, who had summoned him a couple of days ago and asked him not to hold the press conference, Mr. Azad made light of the meeting saying, “I had a good breakfast with him. He offered me idlis . I said it was very good.”
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
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
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
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
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)
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.
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.
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
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