Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi on Monday said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is planning to put the next line of leadership of the party in jail, referring to herself as the probe agency named her and Saurabh Bhardwaj in court on Monday during the hearing over the custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy 'scam'.
Atishi on Tuesday also claimed a person close to her said that she should join the BJP or be prepared to be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate within a month.
ED on Monday said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been arrested by the agency in connection with a money laundering case linked to excise policy, told the probe agency that his interaction with former communication-in-charge of his party AAP, Vijay Nair, was limited as he only reported to party leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj.
Vijay Nair is among the accused in the liquor policy case. Vijay Nair was among the first people to be arrested by the CBI in the case, in 2022. Subsequently, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were also arrested in connection with the case.
Reacting to the same, Atishi on Tuesday said: "Yesterday the ED took Saurabh Bharadwaj and my name in the court, on the basis of a statement which is available with ED and CBI for one and a half years, this statement is in the charge sheet of ED. This statement is also in the charge sheets of CBI, so what was the reason for raising this statement?
"The reason for raising this statement was that now the BJP feels that despite Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendra Jain being in jail, the Aam Aadmi Party is still united and strong. Now they are planning to put the next line of leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party in jail...," Atishi said.
Atishi claimed that besides herself, three Aam Aadmi Party leaders -- Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, MLA Durgesh Pathak and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha -- would also be arrested.
The Delhi minister claimed that she was told that in the coming days, the ED would conduct raids at her residence and that of her relatives. The BJP has been rattled by the success of the INDIA bloc's Ramlila Maidan rally on Sunday and has realised that sending Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to jail would not lead to the disintegration of the AAP, she asserted.
Will Kejriwal Resign As CM? Here's What Atishi Said
When asked whether Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will resign from his post, Atishi said there are two constitutional and legal provisions related to this in our country, one of which - Representation of the People Act - says one cannot remain a public representative if they have a conviction for more than two years.
"Arvind Kejriwal enjoys the overwhelming majority of the Delhi Assembly, so there is no reason for Arvind Kejriwal to resign. If Arvind Kejriwal resigns today then it will be a very simple and straightforward solution for the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple the opposition governments...," Atishi said.
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody on Monday by a court in connection with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe of the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy 'scam'.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.
Allegations are that Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by AAP.
