Who was CBI’S target, asks Kejri Tension between Centre and Delhi govt refuses to die down
Says if graft took place while Rajendra Kumar was serving other depts, why was his office searched
NEW DELHI: The political slugfest between the central government and the Delhi government intensified on Tuesday with Arvind Kejriwal questioning the motive behind the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) raid allegedly on his office.
While CBI maintained that the raid was on principal secretary Rajendra Kumar’s office, Kejriwal rejected the clarification stating that “Rajendra (Kumar) was just an excuse and he (Kejriwal) was the real target”.
Visibly furious, Kejriwal alleged CBI was lying because its officials did search his office. “My office didn’t have files older than 10-15 days. If they were looking for files of the 2007-14 period, what were they looking for in my office?” Kejriwal told reporters at the residence of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
Kejriwal and other senior AAP leaders remained in a huddle at Sisodia’s residence even as the raids which started around 9.40am continued till late in the night. Both Sisodia and Kejriwal, whose office floor was sealed by the CBI for the raids, did not visit the secretariat on Tuesday.
Questioning the pattern of the raids, Kejriwal said that Kumar had held senior positions in the departments of education, IT and VAT in the past and the allegations against him are related to his previous assignments but the raids are being conducted in his current office.
“If they were looking for proof of corruption, they should be looking for the concerned files in those departments. But I do not think the action is to check (corrupt) contracts. If he had given out contracts in contravention of the law, those departments should have been raided. The files (related to his alleged corruption) are there,” Kejriwal argued.
The chief minister also hit out at the Bjp-led Centre raising questions over why the ministers in the previous Congress government, during whose tenure the alleged corruption took place, and other officers who also signed the supposedly corrupt contracts approved by Kumar were not raided.
Earlier in the day, deputy chief ministermanishsisodiatermedthe Cbiraidsapressuretacticonpartof the Narendra Modi government to “terrorise” officials working closely with the AAP government.
“The Centre is trying to terrorise officials through CBI. If action was against Rajendra Kumar, why are the files of CM being scanned? Whose files are kept in principal secretary to CM’S office? Files signed by CM and affidavits are kept there. If the central government wanted files related to any corruption case, we would have provided them that,” Sisodia told reporters just after the CBI came out with its official reaction. NEW DELHI: Just days after taking on the Narendra Modi government over demolition of a slum cluster on railway land, another political fight between the AAP government and the Bjp-led central government broke out as the CBI raided Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday.
While Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the CBI raid was indicative of an “undeclared emergency”, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay accused Kejriwal of “attempting to save an officer charged with corruption”.
“The chief minister must apologise... The Bharatiya Janata Party will not tolerate such language. The entire Delhi Secretariat has become a hub of corruption,” Upadhyay said.
The latest war of words comes after a bitter verbal spat in connection with the controversial demolition of a slum settlement in outer Delhi’s Shakur Basti that left hundreds of poor people homeless in the biting cold.
After a three-day tug of war over the issue, peace prevailed after both the central government agencies and the state government agreed not to demolish slums during the winter season and without rehabilitation of those affected.
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 a host of issues including the appointment and transfer of senior bureaucrats. Besides rooting for full statehood, the AAP government has also been pressing for transfer of Delhi Police, which reports to the Union home ministry, to the city government.