New Delhi:

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s broadside on Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday – naming the former Delhi Chief Minister as the “architect of the liquor scam” and raking up the ‘sheeshmahal‘ jab, a staple of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attacks – underlined the chasm between his party and the Aam Aadmi Party, both of which remain (on paper, if nothing else), part of the INDIA opposition bloc and national allies.

Addressing a rally in Delhi’s Patparganj, before the city votes next week in an election that could, potentially, enhance or break Arvind Kejriwal’s political reputation, Mr Gandhi took aim both at the AAP leader and his right-hand man, ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, both of whom had been arrested, and jailed, by the Enforcement Directorate on corruption charges.

Both were released on bail, by the Supreme Court, late last year.

Mr Gandhi campaigning in Patparganj is significant because it is Mr Sisodia’s seat.

“… Kejriwal had a small car (the blue Maruti Wagon-R that the AAP leader reported stolen in October 2017) when he came, and he declared he will introduce a new kind of politics. He had climbed an electric poll and promised to transform Delhi…”

“But when the poor people of Delhi needed him, he was nowhere to be found. When there was violence in Delhi (referring to the riots of 2020) he was nowhere to be seen. He talked about ‘clean politics’ but the biggest liquor scam took place in Delhi,” Mr Gandhi raged.

And then the Congress leader weighed in with the ‘sheeshmahal‘ jab, comparing the BJP’s allegations – that the AAP spent Rs 45 crore to renovate the Delhi Chief Minister’s bungalow when Mr Kejriwal held the post – to his vacating his MP bungalow after he was suspended.

READ | ‘Sheeshmahal’ Showdown: AAP vs BJP Over Chief Minister Home

“I was thrown out of my house by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji… and I handed them (the BJP) the keys and said you can keep it. But Kejriwalji stays in a ‘sheeshmahal‘.”

READ | Rahul Gandhi Vacates Delhi Bungalow He Held Since 2005

The AAP and Congress were expected to contest the Delhi election together, even after acrimony over failed seat-share talks for the Haryana election and the latter’s big defeat. Mr Gandhi, in fact, was perhaps the seniormost Congress leader to push to continue the alliance.

But within each party’s Delhi units there has long been unease and distrust of the other, dating back to a failed alliance after the 2013 election; the two joined hands to keep the BJP out of power, but fell apart two years into the term, leading to a mid-term election the AAP dominated.

Eventually, the weight of failed talks in Haryana and the squabbling that preceded sharing of the seven seats in Delhi for the April-June federal election (all of which the BJP won), took its toll and Mr Kejriwal and the Congress declared they would each contest separately.

Since then the attacks on each other have been fierce; the Congress, for example, has also targeted Mr Kejriwal over his allegations the BJP mixed “poison” in Yamuna water being supplied to the city by the saffron party-ruled Haryana government.

Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats will vote in a single phase on February 5, with results due three days later. The AAP thumped the BJP and the Congress in the last two polls, winning 67 and 62 seats.

This time it faces a much tougher challenge – from the BJP.

NDTV Exclusive | “Change Inevitable”: Amit Shah Attacks AAP

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s ultimate poll strategist, told NDTV his party is supremely confident of stopping a hat-trick of solo wins for Mr Kejriwal and the AAP.

New Delhi:

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s broadside on Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday – naming the former Delhi Chief Minister as the “architect of the liquor scam” and raking up the ‘sheeshmahal‘ jab, a staple of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attacks – underlined the chasm between his party and the Aam Aadmi Party, both of which remain (on paper, if nothing else), part of the INDIA opposition bloc and national allies.

Hitting back, Arvind Kejriwal said Mr Gandhi was repeating the BJP’s speech, suggesting there’s an agreement between the two parties. 

Addressing a rally in Delhi’s Patparganj, before the city votes next week in an election that could, potentially, enhance or break Arvind Kejriwal’s political reputation, Mr Gandhi took aim both at the AAP leader and his right-hand man, ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, both of whom had been arrested, and jailed, by the Enforcement Directorate on corruption charges.

Both were released on bail, by the Supreme Court, late last year.

“… Kejriwal had a small car (the blue Maruti Wagon-R that the AAP leader reported stolen in October 2017) when he came, and he declared he will introduce a new kind of politics. He had climbed an electric poll and promised to transform Delhi…”

“But when the poor people of Delhi needed him, he was nowhere to be found. When there was violence in Delhi (referring to the riots of 2020) he was nowhere to be seen. He talked about ‘clean politics’ but the biggest liquor scam took place in Delhi,” Mr Gandhi raged.

And then the Congress leader weighed in with the ‘sheeshmahal‘ jab, comparing the BJP’s allegations – that the AAP spent Rs 45 crore to renovate the Delhi Chief Minister’s bungalow when Mr Kejriwal held the post – to his vacating his MP bungalow after he was suspended.

READ | ‘Sheeshmahal’ Showdown: AAP vs BJP Over Chief Minister Home

“I was thrown out of my house by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji… and I handed them (the BJP) the keys and said you can keep it. But Kejriwalji stays in a ‘sheeshmahal‘.”

READ | Rahul Gandhi Vacates Delhi Bungalow He Held Since 2005

Arvind Kejriwal, whose party has been in power since 2013, criticised Mr Gandhi for repeating BJP’s claims. 

“Today Rahul ji repeated the entire speech of the BJP in Delhi. Tell the public what agreement has been reached between the BJP and Congress?” asked Mr Kejriwal.

लोग पूछ रहे हैं राहुल गांधी जी “राजमहल” पर चुप क्यों है?

आज राहुल जी ने दिल्ली में पूरा बीजेपी वालों का भाषण दोहराया। जनता को बता दो कि बीजेपी और कांग्रेस में क्या समझौता हुआ है? https://t.co/nRUoLCy0FM

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 28, 2025

In another post, Mr Kejriwal said,” Modiji puts people in jail even by making fake cases like liquor scam. Why haven’t you and your family been arrested in open and shut cases like National Herald? How did Robert Vadra get a clean chit from BJP? It is better if you don’t preach on fear and bravery. The country knows who is a coward and who is brave.”

The AAP and Congress were expected to contest the Delhi election together, even after acrimony over failed seat-share talks for the Haryana election and the latter’s big defeat. Mr Gandhi, in fact, was perhaps the seniormost Congress leader to push to continue the alliance.

But within each party’s Delhi units there has long been unease and distrust of the other, dating back to a failed alliance after the 2013 election; the two joined hands to keep the BJP out of power, but fell apart two years into the term, leading to a mid-term election the AAP dominated.

Eventually, the weight of failed talks in Haryana and the squabbling that preceded sharing of the seven seats in Delhi for the April-June federal election (all of which the BJP won), took its toll and Mr Kejriwal and the Congress declared they would each contest separately.

Since then the attacks on each other have been fierce; the Congress, for example, has also targeted Mr Kejriwal over his allegations the BJP mixed “poison” in Yamuna water being supplied to the city by the saffron party-ruled Haryana government.

Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats will vote in a single phase on February 5, with results due three days later. The AAP thumped the BJP and the Congress in the last two polls, winning 67 and 62 seats.

This time it faces a much tougher challenge – from the BJP.

NDTV Exclusive | “Change Inevitable”: Amit Shah Attacks AAP

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s ultimate poll strategist, told NDTV his party is supremely confident of stopping a hat-trick of solo wins for Mr Kejriwal and the AAP.

New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted searches at the residence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjeev Arora in Punjab’s Ludhiana. Officials said the raids were held in a money laundering probe case.

According to sources, Mr Arora, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, is accused of fraudulently acquiring land worth crores in the name of his company.

Reacting to the ED action, Mr Arora said he was “not sure” about the reason for the search operations.

“I am a law-abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for the search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered,” he wrote on X.

I am a law abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered.

— Sanjeev Arora (@MP_SanjeevArora) October 7, 2024

The probe agency conducted raids at 17 locations across Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Delhi, including at the residence of realtor Hemant Sood.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia attacked the ED, saying they had raided many leaders of his party but “found nothing”.

“Since this morning, the ED is raiding the house of Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora. In the last two years, they have raided (former Delhi chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal’s house, my house, (AAP MP) Sanjay Singh’s house, (former Delhi minister) Satyendra Jain’s house… nothing was found anywhere,” he posted on X in Hindi.

Mr Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. The ED then arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He was granted bail in August this year.

Besides him, senior AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain have also faced the ED heat. While Mr Kejriwal and Mr Singh have been granted bail, Mr Jain, who was arrested by the probe agency in May 2022, remains in custody.

New Delhi:

With Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal still in jail, his close confidante and former deputy Manish Sisodia has taken charge of the party’s campaign for the assembly polls in the national capital and Haryana.

Mr Sisodia, who has been granted bail by the Supreme Court in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the Delhi liquor policy case, will today hold a meeting of the senior party members.

The 52-year-old walked out of Tihar jail on Friday after spending 17 months behind bars, giving a shot to the AAP in its arm, which is still trying to fight the setback it received after its chief, Mr Kejriwal, was sent to jail in a case related to the alleged liquor policy scam.

The meeting of the AAP leaders is scheduled to be held at 6 pm at Mr Sisodia’s residence. 

Assembly elections in Haryana, where the AAP has announced to contest all 90 assembly seats, are due later this year, while polls in 70 constituencies of Delhi are expected to take place in the beginning of 2025.

Manish Sisodia Is Key Face Of AAP

Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, has been the key face behind the rise of the AAP since its inception after the 2011 anti-corruption movement.

The AAP credits Mr Sisodia for “underscoring his pivotal role in shaping the multi-faceted governance landscape (of Delhi)” and “revolutionalising” the education system of Delhi government schools.

Before signing off his cabinet responsibilities, he held 18 crucial portfolios, including education, finance, planning land and building, vigilance services, women and child development, as well as art, culture, and languages, among others.

He, however, resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023, two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him for alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy 2021-22.

Mr Sisodia has won the Delhi assembly elections thrice, securing the Patparganj constituency in East Delhi.

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to the lieutenant governor saying cabinet minister Atishi will hoist the national flag in his place at the city government’s Independence Day function on August 15, the AAP said on Wednesday.

Mr Kejriwal is currently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

“Mr Kejriwal has written to (Lieutenant Governor VK) Saxena from jail saying that Atishi will hoist the tricolour in his place on August 15,” the AAP said.

Every year, the Delhi government’s Independence Day function is held at Chhatrasal Stadium and Kejriwal addresses the gathering. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court will today deliver its verdict on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which reserved its verdict on the plea on May 17, will pronounce the judgment.

Mr Kejriwal, also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, was arrested on March 21 by the ED in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

ALSO READ | Arvind Kejriwal Used Part Of “Liquor Scam” Kickbacks, Claims ED, AAP Refutes

He has challenged the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court that had upheld his arrest in the case.

The high court had upheld the 55-year-old politician’s arrest in the case, saying there was no illegality about it and that the central probe agency was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

The Supreme Court had on April 15 sought a response from the central probe agency on his plea challenging his arrest.

Arvind Kejriwal was earlier granted 21-day interim bail by the Supreme Court on May 10 to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. He was directed to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phased elections was scheduled to end.

He was then granted bail by a trial court in Delhi on June 20 in the case. However, the ED moved the Delhi High Court the next day and contended that the trial court’s order granting him bail was “perverse”, “one-sided” and “wrong-sided” and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts.

The high court on June 21 imposed an interim stay on the trial court’s bail order till the passing of an order on ED’s application for interim relief. The high court on June 25 also passed a detailed order staying the trial court order.

ALSO READ | Victim Of Witch-Hunt, Falsely Implicated: Arvind Kejriwal In Delhi High Court

Five days later, he was arrested by the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the corruption case related to the alleged liquor policy scam.

The Delhi Liquor Policy Case

The central probe agencies have claimed that irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 and that undue favours were extended to licence holders.

The Delhi government brought in a new policy for liquor sellers in the national capital in November 2021. The Kejriwal-led government, as part of the new policy, stopped government outlets from selling liquor and allowed private parties to apply for licence to run stores.

It said the policy would help stop black marketing, increase the Delhi government’s revenue, and benefit customers.

The Delhi government, however, later scrapped the new liquor policy and reverted to the old one.

New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will boycott President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday to protest against the arrest of its convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

AAP general secretary (organisation) and Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak slammed the BJP over the arrest of Kejriwal and said they will boycott the address.

Mr Kejriwal was on Wednesday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam being probed by it.

President Murmu will address the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, where she is expected to unveil the priorities of the newly-elected government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

President Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament will also be the first after the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Telangana lawmaker K Kavitha – opposition politicians arrested last month – weeks before the start of the Lok Sabha election – in the alleged liquor policy scam – have been sent to extended judicial custody for 14 days. The Aam Aadmi Party boss and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader – both in Delhi’s Tihar Jail – will be produced in court next on May 7.

The Delhi Chief Minister has a plea pending in the Supreme Court, in which he has challenged his arrest March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges. The court heard the matter on April 15, but denied Mr Kejriwal immediate relief pending a reply from the federal agency.

Days earlier the Delhi High Court rejected the same plea, noting the ED had filed enough material to back its claim – that Mr Kejriwal was allegedly involved in forming the now-scrapped policy and demanding bribes of Rs 100 crore used to fund the AAP’s Punjab and Goa election campaigns.

In a related matter earlier today, Mr Kejriwal – a Type 2 diabetes patient – received his first shot of insulin in (reportedly) 32 days. The injection was administered after his blood sugar levels spiked to an alarmingly high 320 mg/dl. Mr Kejriwal had moved the court last week and this asking for insulin injections, but the plea had been opposed by the ED, which claimed the Chief Minister had deliberately eaten high sugar food items to elevate glucose levels and apply for medical bail.

On Monday a Delhi court directed a panel of specialists from the centre-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences to assess the Chief Minister’s condition and establish if insulin is, in fact, needed.

The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have denied all charges, and have counter-accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of “political vendetta” against a rival, and a member of the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc, before the general election. The AAP and the opposition have repeatedly claimed federal investigation agencies – such as the Enforcement Directorate – target opposition leaders on instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The centre has denied this claim.

Ms Kavitha – the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao – will learn on May 2 the outcome of a bail plea in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. Special Judge Kaveri Bawaja on Monday reserved her order. The plea is against Ms Kavitha’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which took her into custody while she was still in judicial custody in the ED’s case.

The case against the BRS leader is that she was part of the ‘South group’ – a cartel of businesspersons who paid an alleged Rs 600 crore in bribes to the AAP for allotment of liquor licences.

Ms Kavitha has also denied the charges and, like Mr Kejriwal, has questioned the timing of ED, CBI action against her, coming as it did weeks and days before the general election.

The ED has also arrested two other AAP leaders in this case – former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested in February last year and has been in jail since, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was arrested in October and received bail earlier this month.

While granting bail to Mr Singh, the Supreme Court observed investigating agencies had failed, so far, to recover any of the alleged bribe money. “Nothing has been recovered… there is no trace (of money allegedly received by AAP as bribes from the ‘South group’)…” the court remarked.

The same point has been made by the AAP and Ms Kavitha’s BRS colleagues.

New Delhi:

Delhi’s Tihar jail is like a city but it does not work in a vaccum, Sanjay Beniwal, the jail’s Director General, said today in the backdrop of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation that he is not being administered insulin. His party has alleged a conspiracy to murder him. Speaking to NDTV in an exclusive interview, Mr Beniwal said Tihar has around 1,000 diabetics and they are given food and medication according to the advice of senior doctors, including those from AIIMS and Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

“We usually face such pressure, we have a habit of tolerating it, it is part of life,” he told NDTV. 

Mr Kejriwal has gone to court alleging that he is being deprived of insulin since his arrest on March 21 in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. His request for a video call with a private practitioner has been denied by the special court in Delhi that is hearing the case. 

His Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, has held protests outside the Tihar jail.

Calling the allegations “baseless”, Mr Beniwal said they will follow the instructions of the court.

“Whatever allegations AAP is making, we have answered them very well in court,” Mr Beniwal said. “Whatever questions the court has asked us, we have also answered them very well. We all accept what the court says. Why are they making all these allegations? Only he should answer,” he said.  

“Do you think slow poison can be given in jail? Do you yourself think this is possible?” Mr Beniwal added.

“Around 900 to 1000 prisoners in our jail are suffering from diabetes. Some are given medicines, some insulin, some need something else… our government-appointed senior doctors do all this,” he said.

Explaining the existing practice under the jail manual, he said when someone’s illness is serious, “we take the advice from the referral hospital, which is outside the jail”.

“Our referral hospitals include AIIMS, RML and other hospitals. This is a normal process for all prisoners. There is no A B C D category for any particular prisoner,” he added.

New Delhi:
The Enforcement Directorate custody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ends today and the central agency probing the alleged liquor policy scam is likely to produce him in court.

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