The Opposition parties, including Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), on Friday, welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case and slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government for alleged misuse of central agencies. The Supreme Court granted bail to Kejriwal in the excise policy case by the CBI paving way for his release. Kejriwal was already granted interim bail in the excise policy-linked money laundering case of the Enforcement Directorate by the apex court.
Welcoming the top court's judgement, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari noted that first Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren got the bail and now Delhi CM Kejriwal was also released from jail. "The Supreme Court found this case to be bailable... The central government is misusing central agencies as the frontal organisations against the Opposition parties. There is an environment of fear in the country... This is a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court and we welcome it," Tiwari said.
RJD MP Manoj Jha also hailed the top court's verdict and claimed the case against the Delhi CM was false and the court's judgement was inevitable. "This had to happen. This will happen in every case because all cases were fake, fictitious and hatched in the Delhi BJP office. Power keeps transferring. Listen to the High Court observation in the case of Hemant Soren, read it and read about today's case - it is a slap to not just ED, I-T and CBI but also to those who plot this."
"So, a clear message has been sent across - baaz aaiye (stop it). Tomorrow, when you won't be in power, these agencies will knock at your doors as well. We will feel bad at that time too because there should be no place for vendetta in politics. But today's decision is welcome," he said congratulating AAP and its legal team for the success.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Hannan Mollah also reacted to the development and said only Opposition leaders are being targeted by the central probe agencies.
"This is BJP's policy to destroy the opposition by using government machinery. They don’t have anything against Arvind Kejriwal; despite this, he has been kept in jail. The only reason behind all this is that the BJP wants to capture Delhi through the Lieutenant Governor, who, from day one, has been undermining the Delhi administration," the Marxist leader said.
Communist Party of India's D Raja also welcomed the bail granted to Arvind Kejriwal, and said, "He is an elected CM of Delhi. Now, we will have to wait and see how the legal course and judicial process will move further because there are some conditions."
Kejriwal's release from the Tihar Jail will be a shot in the arm for the INDIA bloc as it prepares for the elections in Delhi and Haryana. The Delhi CM will likely be walking out of jail today (September 13).