Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, is scheduled to appear before a special court today. The ED team had arrived at Kejriwal’s residence on Thursday to question him regarding the liquor policy case. Kejriwal was arrested during a search operation at his residence, as he had failed to secure interim protection from arrest in the liquor policy case from the Delhi High Court.
Following the arrest, security was heightened at the ITO near the Aam Aadmi Party office in Delhi. AAP leaders condemned the arrest, calling it a move by the BJP to silence opposition voices ahead of the elections. Saurabh Bharadwaj, an AAP Minister, stated, “They did not have any questions for the Delhi CM…just to shut that voice, the Chief Minister of Delhi has been arrested.”
Atishi, another AAP leader, described Kejriwal’s arrest as the BJP’s “political conspiracy” to divert attention from the electoral bonds case. She emphasized that this was the first time a sitting CM had been arrested by the central government.
AAP supporters protested against Kejriwal’s arrest, while leaders of the INDIA bloc extended their support for the AAP leader. BJP leaders, on the other hand, supported the ED’s actions, claiming that Kejriwal was paying for alleged corruption. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonwalla criticized the AAP, stating, “AAP leaders are saying that Arvind Kejriwal is not a human, but an ideology…when the court takes action, he will call it an atrocity…And play the victim card.”
The INDIA bloc parties criticized the BJP for using the ED as a weapon against the opposition. Congress leader KC Venugopal stated, “EC has become a weapon of the government for vendetta politics against the opposition.”
In a related development, the ED also arrested Bharat Rashta Samithi (BRS) leader, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, in connection with money laundering charges linked to the now-scrapped excise policy. Two senior AAP leaders, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, are currently in judicial custody in the excise policy case.