Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Minister Atishi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the fresh summons of ED to CM Arvind Kejriwal and said that the saffron party uses these agencies to scare and that they will not be scared by the threats of ED and CBI. Hitting out at the BJP, Atishi said that the party fears Arvind Kejriwal’s model of governance; that’s the reason why the leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party are being sent to jail.
“It is clear the BJP is scared of the Aam Aadmi Party and the model of governance of Arvind Kejriwal, which is why the leaders of our party are being sent to jail one by one. The BJP uses these agencies to scare us,” she told ANI. “If Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia join the BJP, all cases against them will be dropped, like in the cases of Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal. I want to tell the BJP that we will not be scared by threats from the ED and CBI,” the AAP leader added.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning on December 21 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. The Delhi CM was first called by the federal agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose, alleging that the notice was “vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law.” “The said summons is not clear as to the capacity in which I am being summoned, i.e. as a witness or a suspect in the above-mentioned case. Please recall the said summons, which is to say the least is vague and motivated, and I am advised, unsustainable in law,” Kejriwal stated in his letter to Jogendar, Assistant Director, ED.
When asked about the INDIA bloc meeting scheduled for today, Atishi said that in the meeting, important points like seat-sharing and others would be discussed. “In the meeting today, important points like seat sharing and others will be discussed. AAP and Arvind Kejriwal will make every possible effort to make INDIA alliance a success,” she said.
The combined opposition INDIA alliance will hold its fourth meeting in Delhi today. Alliance leaders like Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Samajwadi Pary chief Akhilesh Yadav have arrived in the capital for the critical meeting. Ahead of the meeting there is a question mark on who will lead the alliance should they decide on contesting the 2024 election as a unified force.
In its editorial, Saamna, the mouthpiece of UBT Sena in Maharashtra, said, “Who is the face of the INDIA alliance in 2024? Who is the one infront of Narendra Modi? These questions will have to be answered. The ‘India’ alliance needs a coordinator and a face. The Congress should understand that ‘a hundred cooks spoil the taste of food’. If the Congress party has to defeat the BJP, then it will have to discuss these two issues with its friends and take a decision.” In a sarcastic post on its official social media account, the BJP wrote, “What will happen in the INDI Alliance meeting today? Watch this trailer.”
Lashing out at the Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Admi Party National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP further wrote in its post, “Watch the dark exploits of the arrogant Alliance in episode 3, How Arvind Kejriwal made the country’s capital a gas chamber and how the people of Delhi are paying the price for Kejriwal’s false promises.” The party took pot shots at the opposition by sharing a clip of a Hindi movie and a video featuring key leaders of the ruling AAP.
Seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls, which are just a few months away, is likely to be at the top of the agenda for the next INDIA bloc meeting and will be crucial for Congress, particularly as the party lost the recent Assembly elections in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17–18. The third meeting happened in Mumbai on August 31–September 1.
