Centre scared of our party, preparing to arrest Kejriwal: AAP

NEW DELHI: The AAP on Saturday alleged that the Centre was ''misusing'' probe agencies to ''harass'' its leaders and preparing to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been summoned by the CBI to its headquarters on April 16 for questioning in the excise police case.

It also alleged that the Centre was ''scared'' of the Aam Aadmi Party and their aim was to finish it.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha called Kejriwal ''modern-day Mahatma Gandhi''.

''Just as Kansa knew his death will be meted out by Lord Krishna, BJP knows its end will be caused by CM Arvind Kejriwal. All efforts to eliminate AAP will be futile, we are not scared of summons or prison. Kejriwal is a modern-day Mahatma Gandhi with unimpeachable integrity; if he is corrupt, no one on earth is honest,'' he said at a press conference.

At another press conference, AAP leader and Delhi Cabinet minister Atishi asserted Kejriwal was the only leader speaking out on the issue of corruption, which was why efforts were being made to stifle his voice.

''Have the agencies found black money during their raids at his residence or anyone else? No. Kejriwal is the only leader talking about the issue of corruption. They want to stifle his voice. But they won't be able to do so,'' she said.

Atishi said several cases have been slapped against AAP leaders but probe agencies have not been able to prove corruption against them.

Kejriwal has been summoned by the CBI at its office here to answer questions of the investigating team in connection with irregularities in formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy.

The chief minister has been summoned as a witness and he is not an accused in the excise policy case.

His former deputy Manish Sisodia has been arrested in the case. Satyendar Jain, another AAP leader, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an unrelated money-laundering case and is in jail for nearly a year.

AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed later the Centre was preparing to arrest Kejriwal.

''The Centre is preparing to arrest Arvind Kejriwal. Why is the central government so scared of him and the Aam Aadmi Party? Their aim is to finish our party. We are a new party and merely have government in two states,'' he said.

He alleged that the BJP planned to keep Kejriwal in jail for six months and create chaos with investigative agencies in Delhi and Punjab. He defended Kejriwal, saying if a man who quit as income tax commissioner and chose to fight for the ration for the poor can be called corrupt, then no one in this world is honest.

''Why is the Centre putting all their strength to harass AAP leaders? The prime minister is scared of Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP government is only misusing the central agencies like CBI and ED to put AAP leaders behind the bars,'' he alleged.

Asked about reports of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge extending his support to Kejriwal after CBI's summons, Bharadwaj said the party welcomes it, quickly adding that when Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha, Kejriwal was one of the first leaders who expressed displeasure over the matter.

Hitting out at the BJP, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh claimed that since previous attempts to overthrow the AAP government have failed, the BJP is now resorting to creating fake stories to fulfil their old dream. He added the prime minister does not want to fight corruption but wants to fight with Kejriwal.

''Every conspiracy to topple AAP's Delhi & Punjab governments failed, so now another conspiracy has been hatched to topple the governments by arresting CM Arvind Kejriwal,'' he alleged.