Arvinder Singh Lovely, the Delhi Congress president, remarked on Thursday that the detention of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal indicates the Bharatiya Janata Party’s apprehension about the elections. He suggested that the BJP is employing tactics such as arresting opposition leaders and freezing the bank accounts of the grand old party.
“They (BJP) are doing this kind of thing as they are afraid of the elections. Congress’ accounts were seized, Hemant Soren was arrested and today in Delhi, just before the elections, the arrest has been done. Using the agencies is shameful. We want to make it clear that Congress will not be afraid of all these things and we will strongly fight the elections. AAP is the partner of the alliance (INDIA alliance), we are strongly standing with them and we support them,” Arvinder Singh Lovely told reporters.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit criticized the BJP, emphasizing that it’s unjust to undermine a democratic party just before elections.
“What is this way of reaching someone’s house to arrest them? Be it freezing Congress’ accounts, arresting Hemant Soren, or arresting Arvind Kejriwal, ED is just relating it to the elections. There is no other explanation. We condemn this action. You cannot kill a democratic party right before the elections. I have seen many raids in my life, but no raid is conducted at night. ED could have called him for investigation,” he said.
Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor, has been taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the excise policy case.
Atishi, an AAP leader and Delhi Minister, stated that their legal team is heading to “the Registar of the Supreme Court, to ask for an urgent hearing” in a post on X.
Our legal team is heading to the residence of the Registar of the Supreme Court, to ask for an urgent hearing. https://t.co/jpHRnzaIn4
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) March 21, 2024
“We have moved the Supreme Court to quash the arrest of Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal by ED. We have asked for an urgent hearing by the Supreme Court tonight itself,” Atishi said in another post on X.
Virendra Sachdeva, Delhi BJP President, remarked that Arvind Kejriwal has persistently evaded accountability in the liquor policy scandal since 2020-21 “and the kind of political theatrics he was doing has been put to an end today”.
“Today, finally, the truth triumphed and I believe that the conspiracy hatched by Arvind Kejriwal and his government to push the youth into alcoholism was bound to result in this. The truth had to prevail and Arvind Kejriwal had to be punished for his sins,” Sachdeva said.
On Thursday, BJP leaders voiced their backing for the ED’s decision to detain Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi excise policy case, asserting that “truth had to prevail.”