AAP's Atishi on Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi:

On Independence Day, state minister Atishi and Kejriwal's wife Sunita reminded that Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is in jail. They strongly criticised the central government and urged the people of the country to raise their voices.

Ms Atishi, who holds the education portfolio among other portfolios, had been nominated by Mr Kejriwal to unfurl the tricolour during the Delhi government's Independence Day celebrations. However, the decision was quashed by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who termed it “invalid” and said Minister Kailash Gahlot would do it as he was in-charge of the Home Ministry.

On Thursday, Ms Atishi posted on X a photo of Mr Kejriwal waving the tricolour and wrote in Hindi: “Today is Independence Day when India got freedom from British dictatorship in 1947. Hundreds of freedom fighters were attacked with batons, went to jail and sacrificed their lives to get us this freedom. They would never have dreamed that one day in independent India an elected Prime Minister would be accused in a false charge and kept in jail for months…”

The minister then called on citizens to promise that their voices would be heard.

Sunita Kejriwal, who has addressed rallies in her husband's absence and even attended INDIA block meetings, quoted Ms Atishi's post and said it was sad that the national flag was not unfurled outside the chief minister's residence on Independence Day. Referring to Mr Kejriwal, she said the central government can keep an elected chief minister in jail but cannot suppress patriotic feelings.

The Delhi Chief Minister was arrested on March 21 in an alleged scam related to the now-defunct liquor policy. Initially, the case was registered by the CBI, but Mr Kejriwal was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money laundering aspect of the alleged scam. He was granted interim bail in the ED's case, but in June, he too was arrested by the CBI.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to grant Mr Kejriwal bail in the case filed by the CBI, with the Delhi Chief Minister's lawyer terming the agency's action as an “insurance arrest”.

Apart from Mr Kejriwal, AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were arrested in connection with the liquor policy. They are out on bail.

Rejected policy

Under the excise policy introduced in November 2021, the Delhi government withdrew from retail sale of liquor and allowed private licensees to operate shops. In July 2022, Delhi Chief Minister Naresh Kumar pointed out gross violations of the policy and alleged that liquor licensees were being given “undue benefits”. The policy was scrapped in September the same year.

The CBI alleges that liquor companies were involved in the formulation of the tax policy, which would have earned them a profit of 12%. It says a liquor lobby called the 'South Group' paid bribes of Rs 100 crore to the AAP, a portion of which was passed on to officials. The Enforcement Directorate alleges that the bribes were laundered.

The AAP denied all the allegations and called Mr Kejriwal's arrest a conspiracy by the BJP. The BJP hit back, saying the AAP used the bribes to fund its election campaign.