In response to a new summons that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) sent him on Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated that the purpose of the summons is to make headlines during the last few months of the 2024 parliamentary elections. Kejriwal was asked to appear before the central agency on December 21 for questioning after being summoned by the ED on December 18, in relation to the Delhi excise policy case.
Questioning the timing of the summons Kejriwal said, “The timing of your summons leaves much to desire and strengthens my belief that the summons being sent to me are not based upon any objective or rational yardstick but purely as propaganda as well as to create sensational news in the final few months of much-awaited parliamentary elections in the country.”
Kejriwal further questioned ED for not responding to his earlier questions. “You have chosen not to inform me nor provide me details of the case file corresponding to file number mentioned in your summons, the reasons for summoning me, or any details thereof. Your summons appears to be a fishing and roving inquiry,” said Kejriwal in a statement.
Delhi’s chief minister added that he had no idea why he had been called in. It’s unclear, he said, “if I am being called as a witness, a suspect, the chief minister of Delhi, or an Aam Adami Party convenor.” In response to the CM’s summons, fellow AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi unleashed a vicious attack on the BJP-led Centre, claiming that the saffron party uses central probe agencies to intimidate and silence opposition leaders. She declared that the AAP would not submit to the ED’s and the CBI’s threats. Aimed at the BJP-led Centre, Atishi claimed that because of its apprehensions about Kejriwal’s style of governance, central agencies were harassing and imprisoning leaders of the ruling AAP.