There is no one left whom Arvind Kejriwal’s party has not duped, and now the question remains: why is he running away from the investigation? Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday asked while taking a dig at the Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor after he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the fourth time in the last three months in connection with the money laundering probe in the 2021-22 Delhi’s excise policy case.

“From 2011-14, Arvind Kejriwal used to talk big. At that time, he used to talk about raising his voice against the corruption of Congress; today, he is involved in corruption himself. Aisa koi bacha nahi jisko Arvind Kejriwal ki party ne thaga nahi,” Thakur said.

BJP calls Kejriwal ‘kingpin’ of alleged scam

Apart from the Union minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted quickly by asking why the Congress party supported the case against Kejriwal and called him “corrupt”.

Alleging Kejriwal of being the “kingpin” of the alleged liquor scam, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla asked the Delhi CM on matters related to the rejection of bail by the Supreme Court to former deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia, who is serving jail time for the alleged financial irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy.

“Why has the Supreme Court not given relief and bail to Manish Sisodia for months and said a ₹338 crore money trail has been found? Why has Sanjay Singh not gotten relief from the high court?” Poonawalla asked.

Kejriwal has been asked to appear before the central agency on January 18 for questioning in the money laundering investigation related to the alleged scam. He was earlier issued summons thrice, which he skipped, citing several reasons. Responding to his third summons, Kejriwal called them “illegal and politically motivated”.

BJP leader Bansuri Swaraj hit out at Kejriwal and said he has been making “excuses” to evade ED summons. “From November last year, the ED has issued multiple summons to him. However, he has always made excuses, saying he is busy with election campaigning or going for Vipassana,” she said.

AAP draws Kejriwal’s Goa visit-summons parallel

The AAP claimed a correlation between the ED’s summons and CM Kejriwal’s announcement to visit Goa next week. The Delhi CM is expected to visit Goa on January 19 and 20 to take stalk of the party’s preparations ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“CM Arvind Kejriwal announced that he is going to Goa to address a public meeting, and now the summon has been issued. It’s nothing but to prevent Arvind Kejriwal from campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” AAP leader Sushil Gupta said.

Kejriwal’s name mentioned in ED chargesheet

The scam case started to take its shape after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) alleging several irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy for the national capital, which was later withdrawn following corruption allegations.

Kejriwal’s role in the alleged scam found its mention in one of six chargesheets filed by the ED, which stated that he told businessman Sameer Mahendru, who has recently been granted a two-week bail in the case, that former AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair “is his boy” and that he should trust him.