Smriti Irani, Satyendar Jain and Arvind Kejriwal
Highlights
- Arvind Kejriwal is at the receiving end of criticism for defending the arrested Minister
- BJP leaders are vocal against Kejriwal ever since Jain was arrested and are seeking latter's ouster
BJP vs AAP: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are engaged in a bitter war of words over the arrest of Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While the AAP leaders are having a tough time defending Jain and merely indulging in a blamegame, the BJP has pulled out all the stops to attack Arvind Kejriwal and accused him of shielding a corrupt leader.
BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday questioned Kejriwal's silence on questions asked by her about Jain's hawala nexus. She again cited the Delhi High Court's 2019 order wherein it was confirmed by the findings of the principal commissioner of Income Tax that Jain was the real owner of the money laundered.
"Kejriwal ji shouldn't betray the country. India is waiting for answers. Kejriwal ji shouldn't insult High Court and investigating agencies," she said.
"Delhi HC said in its order that Rs 16.39 cr black money was moved to 4 shell companies through hawala operators by Satyendra Jain, still CM Arvind Kejriwal is silent on it & is still blaming the investigating agencies," Irani added.
"Conspiracy theorist strikes back! By not answering a single pointed question, Kejriwal ji has in a way admitted to the Hawala nexus of his Minister. It would be easier to come out ‘clean’ for once instead of peddling fake sob stories which do not have any takers anymore," she tweeted separately in the morning after Arvind Kejriwal in a press conference alleged that his deputy Manish Sisodia will soon be arrested in a 'fake' case like Satyendar Jain.
Jain, who holds health, power and home portfolios, was on Monday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a case related to money laundering. He was sent to the agency's custody till June 9.
'Manish Sisodia next'
Earlier today, Kejriwal claimed that he "learnt from reliable sources a few months back that Satyendar Jain was going to be arrested in a fake case and now I have learnt from the same sources that Manish Sisodia is going to be arrested in the next few days in another fake case".
"I urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrest all the AAP MLAs in one go. Arresting them one by one puts a brake on the good work being done. Arrest them together so that after the arrest (when they are released), we can carry on the good work," he added.
Senior AAP leader Atishi Marlena claimed that the Centre is planning to rake up a three-year-old case to implicate Manish Sisodia.
"Where was this case for the last three years? Nothing happened in this case since all the agencies know that there is no corruption. Why is the Centre after AAP MLAs?" she said and showed a purported document in which the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) had sought additional details and documents from Delhi BJP leaders Harish Khurana and Neelkant Bakshi regarding a complaint filed by them.
In their complaint, she said, the duo had alleged that Sisodia was involved in a scam to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms and buildings. It was filed on July 2, 2019, with DCP, New Delhi, who had forwarded it to the ACB.
READ MORE: Arvind Kejriwal defends ministers Sisodia, Jain in corruption cases
