Senior AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi on Friday claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has admitted in an interview to a news channel that the arrest of AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was part of a “conspiracy”.
She said Mr. Shah’s statements proved that the excise policy case, investigations into which started two years ago, “is a well-planned conspiracy to harass AAP leaders and arrest Kejriwal”.
In response, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that instead of blaming the BJP for the arrest of AAP leaders, Ms. Atishi should answer why the CM has not been released despite applying for bail in multiple courts.
The interview that Ms. Atishi referred to was aired on Thursday. In it, the Union Minister said, “I want to tell you that he [Kejriwal] did not appear [before the Enforcement Directorate] even after being issued many summonses. Had he appeared after the first summons, he would have been arrested six months before the election.”
The CM was arrested on March 21 by the ED after evading nine summonses issued by the agency for questioning in the excise case.
Addressing a press conference, Ms. Atishi said the interview proved that the ED’s intention was to call the AAP chief on the pretext of questioning and arrest him.
