The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday slammed the Centre over the Enforcement Directorate summon to Arvind Kejriwal, asking the Delhi chief minister to appear before it for questioning on November 2 in excise policy case.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj in a video message alleged that the Centre is trying to finish the Aam Aadmi Party. “On ED summoning CM Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj says, “As per the news that the Central Government’s ED has sent summon to Delhi CM, it gets clear that the Centre has only one aim to somehow finish AAP. They are not leaving a stone unturned in framing a false case to put CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail and to finish AAP”, he said.

Delhi minister Atishi too hit out at the BJP over the summons to the AAP convenor. “BJP is scared of AAP and the work being done in Punjab & Delhi by the government…Therefore, they are trying to frame AAP leaders in false cases and send them to jail. They want to finish the party”, she told news agency ANI.

It is the first time that the financial crimes probe agency has summoned the Delhi chief minister for questioning. In April this year, Kejriwal was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for around nine hours in connection with the corruption and criminal conspiracy probe.

The central agencies CBI and ED have cracked down on the AAP in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested first by the CBI in February and later by the ED in March in connection with the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the case. In a latest development, the Supreme Court has denied his bail plea.

On October 4, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was arrested by the ED as part of its money laundering probe in the case. He is in judicial custody till November 10.