More apologies to come for case settlements

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal could apologise to his complainants in various cases, including defamation, if they offer out-of-court settlements, a city official said on Saturday.

Kejriwal has to appear in at least 16 court cases from Monday till April 10. These include defamation cases filed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, and road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari for allegations made by the AAP chief.

“One thing is clear that the government is not going to waste any more time, energy and resources in fighting court cases. In all the upcoming cases, if the complainant seeks an apology to settle the case, the chief minister would choose that over fighting a long-drawn court battle,” a government spokesperson said.

Kejriwal wriggled out of a defamation case after he apologised on Thursday to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who the AAP chief had accused of promoting illegal drugs in Punjab.

Finance minister Jaitley had sued Kejriwal for accusing him of corruption during his 13-year tenure as the head of the Delhi District Cricket Association.

According to the AAP’s Punjab legislator Kultar Singh, who came to meet the party chief on Saturday, the apology to Majithia was a move to “save time”. Singh said: “Kejriwal told us that he is going to apologise to everyone against whom he has court cases. He said the cases are serving no purpose to the people. Also, he said he would have fought court cases till the end had these been related to the public.”