The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday took a sharp dig at Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal for not appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and skipping the summons for the third time saying that he is absconding like a criminal as there is something to hide.

Party’s national spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla dubbed him as a criminal and said that Kejriwal is playing the victim card despite the courts establishing that there is a money trail.

Read here: Kejriwal to skip ED summons; calls notice ‘illegal’ in written reply

“Today, once again Arvind Kejriwal has skipped the third summon. This shows that there is something to hide, and that is why he is absconding like a criminal…Courts have not given bail to Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, and the courts have established that there is a money trail, despite all this they are playing the same victim card,” he said to news agency ANI.

Poonawalla further asked the AAP leader why is he afraid if he has done nothing wrong. “If there’s nothing wrong, why is he afraid to go to the agency? When he used to conduct the campaign against corruption with Anna Hazare, he kept saying that first resignation then the investigation would be done and now he’s not ready to go for the investigation,” he asked.

On the other hand, Congress supported the AAP leader saying that the agencies are not doing their work but putting pressure on the opposition leaders.

“ED is carrying out raids at the associates of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. ED notices were sent to former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel right before the elections and false allegations were put on him. Arvind Kejriwal is also a part of the opposition alliance…It is true that these agencies are not doing their work but putting pressure on the opposition leaders,” Congress leader Udit Raj said.

The ED issued a third summons to Kejriwal on December 22 last year, asking him to appear before the agency on January 3. However, he declined to appear before the probe agency and sent a written reply , asserting his willingness to cooperate while citing the notice as illegal.

“Ready to cooperate in ED investigation but the agency’s notice is illegal. Their intention is to arrest Arvind Kejriwal. They want to stop him from election campaign,” ANI quoted an AAP official as saying.

This is the third time Kejriwal has refused to appear before the probe agency. The two earlier summonses were for November 2 and December 21.

Earlier on Tuesday, AAP’s national spokesperson, Priyanka Kakkar, said that the party will act according to the law over the ED’s summons to Kejriwal.

“Our legal team will be better equipped to answer this question. We will act as per the law,” she said.

Read here: AAP to begin phase 2 of ‘Main Bhi Kejriwal’ rally in Delhi from Jan 4

In February 2023, then Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementing the now-scrapped excise policy. The policy was withdrawn amid allegations of foul play by the opposition. AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh was also arrested in the same case in October 2023.

At least 14 people have been arrested by the agency, and ED has approached the court seeking permission to investigate AAP as a beneficiary of the “proceeds of crime”.

(With inputs from agencies)