Following the Centre's approval for the ED to prosecute him and Manish Sisodia in the alleged liquor scam case, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal commented on Wednesday that this is their strategy for competing in the Delhi Assembly elections.
The Union Home Ministry has authorized the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia under the PMLA for their purported involvement in money laundering connected to the liquor scam.
Earlier this month, a sanction order was issued against these Aam Aadmi Party leaders, representing a new development in the case concerning alleged irregularities in the now-revoked Delhi liquor policy for 2021-22.
This decision coincides with the period when both leaders are on bail, as the Supreme Court had ordered the release of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia on regular bail in August, following the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam case in September last year.
The development is significant because a special PMLA court in Delhi had postponed the framing of charges against Arvind Kejriwal after he contested the trial court's decision to acknowledge the charge sheet without a specific sanction for prosecution under the PMLA.
Reacting to the development, BJP candidate Parvesh Verma said that Kejriwal was building his house when the people of Delhi were suffering from Covid.
He said, "It is widely acknowledged that Arvind Kejriwal made a significant mistake. During the global spread of Covid, when people were dying, he was focused on creating an alcohol policy. While people were in desperate need of medicines and housing, he was constructing his 'Sheesh Mahal'. The individual elected by the people of Delhi was prioritizing his 'Sheesh Mahal' over providing necessary medicines to the citizens. "
Nonetheless, AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar raised concerns about the timing of the prosecution, suggesting it was initiated as elections approached.
He stated, "This marks the first instance in the country's history where Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have been imprisoned. Both received bail from the trial court and even the Supreme Court, and after two years, the trial was approved just as elections approach. They have a long history of filing baseless cases and damaging the reputations of Aam Aadmi Party leaders. However, the public is now well-informed about this. "