The festering animosity between the AAP government and the BJP burst into a political firestorm on Tuesday with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming he was the “real“ target of a CBI raid at the Delhi secretariat and lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being a “coward and psychopath“, while BJP hit back, saying the CM's diatribe was a desperate attempt to cover up corruption.
A flaming political row broke out soon after CBI raided the Delhi secretariat in connection with a probe against Rajendra Kumar who is principal secretary to the CM. While CBI categorically denied it had entered Kejriwal's office, the CM claimed the agency was searching for a file relating to finance minister Arun Jaitley's handling of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA).
In a series of tweets and later at a press meet, Kejriwal claimed the PM was targeting him to settle political scores.“When Modi couldn't handle me politically , he resorts to this cowardice. Modi is a coward and psychopath,“ he tweeted.
Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded Kejriwal apologize for intemperate language and countered the criticism that the CBI action violated Centre-state relations, saying “protecting corruption is not part of federal structure“. He said Kejriwal was deliberately misrepresenting action against an official being investigated. “The case has nothing to do with him and dates to events that began in 2007,“ Prasad said.
Jaitley also denied the allegation, saying, “Kejriwal's first response appeared to be prima facie factually incorrect but his evening statement (the claim that CBI was looking for a DDCA file) is absolutely rubbish.“ Sources at the Centre said Delhi government did not have the competence to investigate DDCA as they accused Kejriwal of seeking to concoct allegations to cover up the embarrassment of corruption charges facing his trusted bureaucrat.
CBI's move coincided with the Centre's ongoing confrontation with Congress over alleged vendetta in the National Herald case.
The fresh confrontation between AAP and the Centre found resonance in Parliament and outside with Kejriwal's allies--West Bengal and Bihar chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar-supporting the Delhi chief minister. Nitish said the raids breached the relationship between the Centre and states and Banerjee expressed shock at the “CBI raiding the CM's office“.
Congress leader Kamal Nath said the CBI action amounted to a breakdown of federalism, though the party's response was lukewarm in comparison to the strident note struck by TMC and JD(U).
Kejriwal remained unrepentant over his use of choice epithets to describe the PM, claiming the CBI action was wrong. “It has become necessary to reveal why CBI came to my office today and which was the file they were looking for. This is the DDCA file in which Arun Jaitley is getting trapped,“ he said.
BJP spokesperson Srikant Sharma challenged Kejriwal to reveal details of the file he referred to.“The party that claims to have originated from the anti-corruption movement of 2011 is today covering up the graft allegation against a senior official in his office. If has the evidence he claims, he should reveal it,“ Sharma said.
CBI denied Kejriwal's allegations, with spokesperson Devpreet Singh saying investigations should not be impeded. “CBI emphatically denies having searched the office of the Delhi chief minister. False propaganda should not be used to impede the CBI's investigations,“ Singh said.
Kejriwal's incandescent reaction and the claim that his office was raided marks a fresh and even more vituperative bout of politics between AAP and the Centre just as some cooperation over development projects and Swachh Bharat mission seemed likely .
No comments:
Post a Comment