Kejriwal likely to be arrested after ED raid today, claim AAP ministers

Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj raised alarm late on Wednesday night claiming they had information that ED would raid Kejriwal’s residence on Thursday morning and then Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to be arrested. “News coming in that ED is going to raid @ArvindKejriwal’s residence tmrw morning. Arrest likely,” Atishi tweeted at 11.50pm on Wednesday. Two minutes later, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj posted the same thing in Hindi, “Got to know ED will be reaching Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s house tomorrow morning and is likely to arrest him.”

The late-night claims surfaced after Kejriwal skipped the ED summons for the third time in connection with the alleged liquor scam calling the summons illegal — triggering sharp responses from the BJP.

“What is Arvind Kejriwal scared of? Has he abandoned Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, who continue to be in jail in the Liquor Excise scam. Kejriwal, Instead of skipping ED summons, should take lessons in corruption for I.N.D.I Alliance leaders, who can also enrich themselves with his experience…” the BJP tweeted as the BJP leaders asked why he was not moving the court if he found the ED summons illegal.

Kejriwal skipped the first summons on November 2 citing administrative duties in Delhi ahead of Diwali and election campaigning in Madhya Pradesh. The next summons was on December 21 and Kejriwal left for his vipassana a day before. On December 3, Kejriwal wrote to ED he was busy with the Rajya Sabha elections and was ready to answer the questionnaire if they sent it. Kejriwal said the agency did not reply to his earlier letters in which he sought to know more context on why he was being summoned.

“Being the Chief Minister of Delhi, I am also quite occupied in planning and preparations for several programmes and functions for the Republic Day i.e., 26th January 2024,” Kejriwal wrote in his latest reply to the ED summons.

The second phase of the Main Bhi Kejriwal campaign will commence on Thursday after the party reached out to 2.4 million households in the national capital to seek feedback on whether Kejriwal should resign if he is arrested or whether he should continue to run the government from jail. The party said the public has unequivocally said that Kejriwal should not resign.