Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections have become a contest between the 10 guarantees of his party – as stated in the manifesto – and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 10 videos – in an apparent reference to the videos shared by BJP leaders of minister Satyendar Jain allegedly receiving special privileges in Tihar jail.
“MCD elections are becoming quite clear, it’s BJP’s 10 videos versus Kejriwal’s 10 guarantees. Let’s wait till December 4, the people of Delhi will give a reply to all those videos,” said Kejriwal in a press conference on Saturday.
The Delhi chief minister’s remarks came hours after city BJP chief Adesh Gupta shared a video, dated September 12, purportedly showing then Tihar jail superintendent Ajit Kumar interacting with Jain, who is imprisoned in an alleged money laundering case, inside his prison cell.
Criticising BJP and central investigative agencies, a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed the charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case in which it did not name deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal said this translates into a “clean chit” to Sisodia as the agency has not been able to find “an iota of proof” against him.
“CBI has filed a charge sheet in the so-called excise scam and it does not even mention Manish Sisodia. Over 800 officers of CBI and ED were working on this case over the last four months with the single task of arresting Sisodia, but the charge sheet proves they have nothing against him,” Kejriwal said.
“The prime minister was personally monitoring this case. He was in touch with ED-CBI. We can say with pride that Kejriwal and his party is ‘kattar imandar’ (fiercely honest). “No other politician in India can say this,” he added.
However, the BJP said on Saturday that Kejriwal was suffering from “political cataract” and giving himself a certificate of honesty, despite the alleged excise and classroom construction scams in his government.
CBI’s charge sheet named seven people, including AAP communication strategist Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, a businessman who allegedly lobbied for retail liquor licences for South India-based companies, three other businessmen and two former officials of the excise department of Delhi.
CBI said, “Sisodia, who was named as accused in the CBI’s first information report (FIR) on August 17, has not been named in the charge sheet and the investigation against him and others into the alleged cartelisation of the liquor trade in Delhi is continuing.”
Delhi BJP said Sisodia was the ‘prime accused’ in the case and the first charge sheet is not the end of the investigation.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, “The entire country now knows that Kejriwal is a kattar beiman (fiercely dishonest). Kejriwal has got political cataract. That’s why he is unable see to the trend of the people of Delhi towards BJP nor is he ready to hear the voice of the people.”
He added, “It is not surprising for them to give certificates to themselves while occupying a constitutional post and they are sitting silently in spite of scams in the education sector. He has no time to read the Constitution as he is busy extorting money.”
