Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal may skip the fourth summons from the Enforcement Directorate, which asked him to appear before it on Thursday, 18 January in connection with its investigation into the money laundering aspects of the Delhi excise policy case, because he is scheduled to leave for Goa for a 3-day visit.
“Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to leave for Goa on Thursday as per a pre-announced schedule,” an official in the Chief Minister’s office said. This person added that Kejriwal, also the head of the Aam Aadmi Party, will assess the party’s preparedness in the state for the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Responding to a question from reporters during an event on Wednesday, Kejriwal said, “We will act as per law.”
Kejriwal had planned to go to Goa on January 11 but postponed it to oversee the Republic Day preparations in Delhi. He received the fourth summons from the ED last week, instructing him to appear on January 18. However, it seems likely that he will, once again, not attend the federal agency summons.
Kejriwal has skipped three previous summons — on November 2, on December 22, and on January 3 — calling them “illegal and politically motivated”.
ED issued its fourth summons on January 13 — a day after AAP announced Kejriwal’s three-day Goa tour — leading to Delhi AAP convenor Gopal Rai accusing the central agency of issuing the summons in a bid to stop Kejriwal from campaigning.
On November 2 — the date of the first summons — Kejriwal travelled to poll-bound Madhya Pradesh to address a rally, and alleged that ED was acting at the behest of the BJP to malign his image. On December 22, Kejriwal was in Punjab for meditation retreat, and on January 3, Kejriwal did not appear before the agency citing preparations for Republic Day celebrations as well as the then ongoing Rajya Sabha polls for three seats in Delhi.
Earlier on Wednesday, the leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly and Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa equated chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal with Adolf Hitler and said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders should remove pictures of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from their offices and put up the picture of the former German dictator.
Bajwa’s remarks came hours before both allies of the major Opposition coalition, in a rare show of unity at the local level, teamed up in what is seen as the ‘first match of BJP vs INDIA (bloc)’ ahead of the Chandigarh mayoral election.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates