After CBI raids on Delhi babu
Principal secy’s office raided; CM cries conspiracy; BJP hits back
NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “psychopath” and “coward” after a CBI raid at the Delhi secretariat on Tuesday, triggering a torrent of criticism from BJP leaders in the latest clash between the Centre and the city government.
Kejriwal’s tirade against the NDA government on Twitter was backed by several opposition parties but an angry BJP demanded an unconditional apology from the chief minister for his language and accused him of protecting corrupt officials.
“CBI raids my office. When Modi couldn’t handle me politically, he resorted to this cowardice. Modi is a coward and a psycopath (sic),” the CM tweeted as several party leaders called the incident shameful.
The agency refuted the charges, saying its investigators raided the office of senior bureaucrat and the chief minister’s secretary Rajendra Kumar for allegedly favouring private firms in state tenders. Raids were also conducted at 14 other places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, sources added.
Kejriwal’s critics said the former anti-corruption crusader was indulging in theatrics and playing the victim with claims of political vendetta.
“I don’t know when the CBI got the complaint regarding The office of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s principal secretary, Rajendra Kumar, was raided by the CBI, triggering a fresh faceoff between the AAP and Centre the charges and when they registered the FIR. But merely because he (Rajendra) is raided and he happens to be the principal secretary and a trusted man of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal does not make the raid political vendetta,” senior advocate and former AAP leader Prashant Bhushan told ANI.
The AAP administration has repeatedly accused the Centre of trying to run the city by proxy using lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. The two sides have clashed on the appointment and transfer of senior bureaucrats and Delhi police, which reports to the Union home ministry and not the city government.
The fresh tussle has pushed on the back burner a war of words in the past few days between the two governments over a railways anti-encroachment drive at a slum cluster in the Capital during which an infant girl was allegedly killed.