Kejriwal graft charge gets Hazare attention
Social activist Anna Hazare had earlier said he was pained to see Kejriwal, his ‘former colleague in the anti-corruption crusade’, facing allegations of accepting money
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday said he would sit on an agitation to demand the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal if the allegations of corruption against the Delhi chief minister were proved.
Hazare, however, also pointed out that former Delhi minister Kapil Mishra made the allegations of graft against Kejriwal only after he was sacked from the AAP dispensation. “Whatever the former minister has said against Kejriwal, he said it only after his removal. If he was the minister when the alleged money exchange took place, why did not he alert the authorities?” the anti-corruption crusader asked.
“I think there should be a thorough investigation in this case. If Kejriwal is found guilty then I will personally sit on an agitation at Jantar Mantar and demand his resignation,” Hazare said at his residence in Ralegan Siddhi vil- lage of Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district.
The activist had earlier said he was pained to see Kejriwal, his “former colleague in the anti-corruption crusade”, facing allegations of accepting money.
Mishra had on Sunday accused Kejriwal of taking Rs20 million from a Cabinet colleague, a charge refuted by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
The allegation by Mishra, who was sacked from the AAP dispensation on Saturday night, came amid growing rumblings in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Meanwhile, Mishra on Tuesday filed three complaints with the CBI against Kejriwal, minister Satyendar Jain and AAP leaders who allegedly misused party funds on foreign trips. The Karawal Nagar MLA, who was on Monday suspended from primary membership of the AAP, also threatened to launch a hunger strike on Wednesday if details of foreign visits by five AAP leaders are not made public by the party.
Mishra said he filed complaints with the CBI over the exchange of Rs20 million between Jain and Kejriwal, a Rs500 million land deal arranged for the CM’s brother-in-law and five AAP leaders allegedly misusing party funds on foreign trips.
Earlier in the day, the AAP legislator wrote an open letter to his former “guru” Kejriwal to seek his blessings before filing the complaint against him. He also dared Kejriwal to fight elections against him from any seat of his choice.
The former water minister had on Monday submitted documents to the Anti-Corruption Branch to back his allegations that Kejriwal had delayed the probe into the Rs 4-billion tanker scam.