“Learn From Hemant Soren”: BJP Leader Jabs Arvind Kejriwal After Arrest

Begusarai, Bihar:

Union Minister Giriraj Singh slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, suggesting that he has “lost all morality” and should “learn” from ex Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who had resigned from his post before being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

“Morality is also a thing. Kejriwal has lost all morality. Under the garb of morality, he had agitated with Anna Hazare. And he is saying that the law does not prohibit him from running a government behind bars,” the BJP leader told ANI on Sunday.

“What had our Baba Saheb Ambedkar thought that such immoral people would become the Chief Minister? Those who will be behind bars,” the BJP leader said while expressing concern at Arvind Kejriwal, who is still running the government after being arrested on charges of corruption in a Delhi excise policy case.

“Those who called themselves ‘Kattar Imaandar’ have come out to be known as Kattar Beman,” he said, taking a dig at the ruling Aam Admi Party.

He said that when (RJD Chief and ex- Bihar Chief Minister) Lalu Prasad was sent to jail, he made his wife the Chief Minister. “You also make your wife the Chief Minister. He should learn from Hemant Soren…,” he said while demanding Kejriwal’s resignation.

Significantly, Hemant Soren, former Jharkhand Chief Minister, had resigned from his post before he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money-laundering probe related to an alleged land scam.

In dramatic developments on the evening of March 21, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested the AAP national convenor after questioning him at his residence in connection with the excise policy case.

The arrest came hours after the Delhi HC rejected his petition seeking to restrain the central probe agency from taking any coercive action against him.

The case in question pertains to alleged irregularities and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi excise policy in 2021-22. The policy was later scrapped in the face of allegations of irregularities.

Kejriwal, on Saturday, moved the Delhi High Court, challenging his arrest and the order of remand to the ED granted by the trial court on March 22.

His legal team said his plea filed before the Delhi HC stated that both the arrest and the remand order were ‘illegal’ and he was entitled to be released from custody immediately.

Several AAP leaders were also detained on Friday by Delhi Police while leading a protest in the national capital against Kejriwal’s arrest.

The arrest of the AAP supremo came as a blow to the INDIA bloc, a coalition of more than 20 Opposition parties, at a time when they are still struggling to sew up seat-sharing agreements in many states ahead of the general elections.

Several INDIA leaders came out in support of Kejriwal while accusing the BJP and the Centre of arm-twisting the opposition.

The BJP, however, denied all the allegations.

The ED, which was given the custody of Delhi CM till March 28 by the lower court, alleged that the Aam Adami Party (AAP) was the major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the alleged liquor scam.

Two AAP leaders, Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, are already in judicial custody in the excise policy case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)