Apologise to Prime Minister, BJP tells Kejriwal

Reacting to the charge of Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a coward and a psychopath, a furious BJP lashed out at him for his “disgraceful” remarks against the PM and said it was shameful that the CM, who came from the “womb of” anti-graft stir was protecting an officer involved in a “textbook case of corruption”.

Demanding an apology from the Delhi Chief Minister, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rubbished his claim that CBI raided his office, saying it was not even “touched” by the agency.

Addressing a press conference, Prasad also questioned Kejriwal over the appointment of an officer facing corruption allegations, asking why had he not done due diligence?

The Union Minister said the IAS officer, Rajendra Kumar, who was the principle secretary to Kejriwal, is accused of helping a private firm in getting Delhi government’s contracts wherever he was posted and CBI raided his office and home after getting a court warrant.

“Which law says that CBI should have informed the chief minister before raiding his officer’s office? There is no such law.... You (Kejriwal) would announce names of corrupt people in your press conferences and it was fair and here CBI is acting as per law and you claim it is bad,” he said.

Prasad noted that the CBI had raided 14 places and only two of them belonged to Kumar. The charges date back prior to the AAP government coming to power, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia challenged Modi government to dig out something against the AAP government. The CBI said the searches had nothing to do with Kejriwal or his tenure and that the graft case against the officer also pertained to his past.

The raid issue also found echo in both the houses. The Trinamool Congress resorted to slogan shouting in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha leading to uproar and ruckus as opposition members alleged that an “undeclared emergency” had been imposed in the country.

An angry Opposition, however, forced three adjournments in the House over the issue, terming the raids an “attack on federal structure”.

Joining the TMC, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the government of “murdering Constitution” and said the elected non-BJP state governments needed to be “saved from this BJP government (at Centre)”. Members of Left parties and JD-U were also standing in their seats when the issue was raised.