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BIG STORY MARCH 29, 2024 | The Indian Eye 5

Meanwhile, Sunita Kejriwal, the said the official.
wife of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind On Friday, Punjab CM Bhag-
Kejriwal who was held by the En- want Mann reached Kejriwal’s res-
forcement Directorate (ED) in the idence to meet his family members.
alleged excise policy scam a day be- After the arrest of Kejriwal by the
fore, on Friday said that the arrest Enforcement Directorate in the al-
of her husband is a “betrayal” with leged liquor policy scam on Thursday
the people who have elected him to late at night, the Aam Aadmi Party
power thrice. Sunita, in a post on X, has called for huge protests in Delhi
hit out at Prime Minister Narendra as well as across the country.
Modi, saying that Kejriwal was ar- Meanwhile, labelling the Del-
rested due to the PM’s “arrogance of hi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest as
power.” a ‘mockery of democracy’, Rajya
“Modiji got your thrice elected Sabha MP and Senior advocate Kapil
Chief Minister arrested out of arro- Sibal on Thursday said that the Delhi
gance of power. He is trying to crush liquor policy case in which Kejriwal
everyone. This is a betrayal of the has been arrested holds no ground
people of Delhi. Your Chief Minister as there is no substantial proof in the
has always stood with you,” she said case.
in a post in Hindi. AAP supporters protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi on Friday (ANI) Asking the INDIA alliance to
She further said that Arvind Ke- come together against the action on
jriwal’s life is dedicated to the coun- Thursday in the money laundering minister Arvind Kejriwal over re- Kejriwal, Sibal said, “INDIA Alli-
try, whether he is inside the jail or case related to the alleged liquor pol- ports that anti-social elements could ance has to decide what to do. I have
outside. icy scam. hijack the protest to create chaos in been saying since the beginning that
After Delhi Chief Minister was the alliance has to come together
“Prior to the arrest of Arvind
arrested, INDIA bloc leaders met Kejriwal by the Enforcement Direc- the national capital. A senior official against all of this. This is a zero case.
confirmed that intelligence agencies
with the Election Commission of torate, the High Court had also re- have been keeping watch on the The whole case is based on the state-
India on Friday and demanded its fused to pass orders granting interim movement of protesters from oth- ments of the approvers. The approv-
intervention in the “targeting of protection from the coercive action er states, especially from Punjab, as ers statements are not considered,
opposition leaders” by the ruling against him in the said case,” the plea many AAP leaders have given calls unless there is a substantial proof,
Bharatiya Janata Party through the said, noting that after Kejriwal’s ar- for protest and requested workers there are no proofs in this case”, he
“misuse of central agencies”. rest, Delhi Minster Atishi has given from other states to march towards said.
The representation to the ECI Criticizing the BJP for its role in
was made by Congress General interviews to various channels stating Delhi. Other party workers might the electoral bonds case, Sibal stat-
and affirming that Kejriwal will not
also come along with them.
Secretary KC Venugopal, Abhishek resign from his post and, if needed, “We are vigilant and in touch ed, “Instead of arresting those they
Singhvi, NCP (SCP) leader Jitendra will run the government from jail. with state police over the movement should have, they purchased bonds
Awhad, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Ye- “She further said ‘Arvind Kejriw- of protesters. Because of the ongoing from them. With the scheme now
chury, TMC MP Derek O Brien and al was the Delhi CM, is the CM and farmer protests, police and intelli- scrapped, their ability to buy bonds is
several other leaders. will continue to remain the CM, he gence agencies are already on high gone. This is nothing but a mockery
After meeting the Election Com- of democracy,” he said.
mission, Congress leader Abhishek will not resign’ the plea read. alert. We are updating Delhi, Pun- Congress leader KC Venugopal
jab and Haryana police with the sit-
Now, Central intelligence agen-
Singhvi said that a level playing field cies are keeping close watch on the uation and have requested that they on Friday flayed the arrest of Del-
is needed for elections, but the ruling movement of protesters coming to stop any such movement as it could hi Chief Minister and AAP leader
party is not allowing that, which has Delhi after the arrest of Delhi chief create chaos in the national capital,” Arvind Kejriwal, saying that the
had an impact of free and fair elec- Election Commission has become a
tions. “Almost every opposition party weapon of the government for ven-
is here. This incident happened late detta politics against the opposition.
at night (arrest of Delhi CM). We “They (BJP) know they can’t win on
had a detailed discussion with the their own, so they are doing vendet-
election commission. This isn’t about ta politics against opposition lead-
an individual or any party but it re- ers...This is a move to make India
lates to the basic structure of the con- an autocratic country,” Venugopal
stitution. When a level playing field further said.
is needed for an election and you do Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party lead-
not let the field be leveled by misus- ers, including Delhi Ministers Sau-
ing agencies, it impacts free and fair rabh Bharadwaj and Atishi, were
elections and ultimately democracy,” detained by the Delhi police during
he said. the party protest against the arrest
In a related development, a pub- of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
lic interest litigation (PIL) was filed The AAP held a protest at the ITO
in the Delhi High Court on Friday, in the national capital against CM
seeking the removal of Arvind Kejri- Kejriwal’s arrest by ED in the excise
wal from the Delhi Chief Minister’s policy case.
post after his arrest in an alleged The Capital is gripped with ten-
money laundering case in connection sion and it may continue till the first
with the excise policy. The plea stat- A multi-party delegation leaves after meeting Election Commission of India in New Delhi on votes are cast on April 19 and the re-
ed that Arvind Kejriwal was arrested Friday (ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma) sults announced on June 4.
by the Enforcement Directorate on

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