Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has left for the CBI Office ahead of his questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor scam case. AAP national convenor Kejriwal also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat ahead of his appearance before CBI today. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also accompanied him to the CBI office.
Kejriwal said some anti-national forces don’t want India to develop. He said, “I want to tell these forces that the country will continue to progress,” as quoted by news agency ANI.
He further added that he will answer all questions posed to him. While hitting out at the BJP-led central government, he said, as quoted by ANI, “BJP leaders are talking about my arrest. CBI is controlled by BJP.”
He was summoned by the CBI in the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which grants licences to liquor traders, and is said to have favoured certain dealers who allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly denied by the AAP. The policy was later abandoned.
ANI reported that Aam Aadmi Party will stage a protest in the national capital during the questioning of party chief Kejriwal at the CBI office on Sunday. Hours before he is to leave for questioning at the probe agency's headquarters, Delhi CM sent a video message to his supporters saying that the CBI will arrest him if "the BJP has asked it to".
"They (CBI) have called me today and I will definitely go. They are very powerful, they can send anyone to jail. If BJP has ordered CBI to arrest me, then CBI will obviously follow their instructions," CM Kejriwal remarked.
He also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, "Mr. Prime Minister if Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no honest person in this world. Kejriwal lives for the country and will die for the country. If you have CBI summon me 100 times, I will still go. You can trouble us Indians but cannot stop India anymore. India will become the Number 1 country in the world."
The Delhi chief minister has been summoned as a witness but is not a defendant in the excise policy case in which his former deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26. Sisodia was arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is currently in judicial custody.
The Delhi government has called a special session of the assembly on Monday and it is likely to discuss CBI's notice to Kejriwal. The second part of the Budget Session will commence in the Assembly Hall at 11 am on Monday, according to official notification.