Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has dared the Bharatiya Janata Party to arrest Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other leaders of the party in connection with the Rs. 3,600 crore AgustaWestland chopper scam.
He also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on the issue and wondered why CBI raids have not been conducted against Congress leaders in connection with the case.
“I dare BJP 2 arrest Sonia ji n those Cong leaders named in Italy court order n interrogate them (sic),” Mr Kejriwal tweeted on Thursday evening and went on to questions BJP’s “intentions”.
“BJP’ll never do it. BJP’s intentions are bad. For five years, BJP engaged in political rhetoric. There is a strong relationship between Congress and BJP,” he said in another tweet.
This is the first instance where Mr Kejriwal directly named Sonia Gandhi. He had previously refrained from naming Mrs Gandhi ever since the row erupted in Parliament.
Earlier on Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party chief questioned whether those named in the Italian court order should not be immediately arrested and interrogated.
“Why is the PM silent on Agusta? First BJP spared Vadra, now protecting entire Congress top brass in Augusta?” the Delhi Chief Minister said on twitter, referring to Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.
He also tweeted, “Shudn’t those named in Italy court order be immediately arrested n interrogated? CBI raid had been conducted on me, but why there is no raid at Congress persons (sic).”
In December last year, CBI had raided the office of Mr Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar in connection with an alleged corruption case. Mr Kejriwal had then accused the Prime Minister of getting the CBI raid conducted at Delhi Secretariat.
The controversial deal to buy 12 choppers for VVIPs and the alleged bribes paid in clinching it have triggered a political storm after an Italian court “cited handwritten references” to Sonia Gandhi, her political secretary Ahmed Patel and former Air Chief SP Tyagi by a middleman in a judgement that convicted the helicopter company’s chief executive.
