House condemns CBI raid; Kejriwal seeks Modi''s scalp

Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service 

New Delhi, December 22

Indicating that the national Capital has stormy days ahead, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today demanded Prime Minister Narendra's resignation accusing him of "misusing" the CBI to "save" Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who stands accused in the Delhi and District Cricket Association multi-crore scam.

Kejriwal challenged the Prime Minister to take action against Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj while calling for CBI's autonomy. 

Describing the December 15 when the CBI cracked down on Delhi Secretariat in connection with alleged graft charges against the CM's Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar- a "black day"- Kejriwal alleged, "The PM conducted the raid to save Arun Jaitley. I demand the PM's resignation for conducting such a flop raid and for misusing the CBI....There can be raids on any CM. This is dangerous for the country's federal structure." 

CM defends Rajendra Kumar 

The AAP chief defended Kumar, one of his trusted bureaucrats while asserting, "If I can remove my minister and officials for corruption then it is also my duty to protect honest officers."

Kumar, who appeared forlorn, was seen seated in the assembly's officers' gallery during the proceedings. 

"Today is the eight day and even after over 50 hours of interrogation of Rajendra Kumar, the CBI has not got anything, " Kejriwal said.

Taking a dig at Modi over his foreign trips, he said the time the PM is outside, things are well in Delhi and whenever he is back things become disturbed.

"PM used to say neither will I take bribe nor will I let anyone take bribe, all that is done. Now it is neither will I work nor let anyone work," added Kejriwal. 

House passes resolution on Commission of Inquiry  

As the Delhi Assembly today passed a resolution to initiate a Commission of Inquiry into the DDCA affairs and another motion against the CBI raids at the Secretariat, the Opposition turf was held all alone by BJP MLA and LoP Vijender Gupta who tried to put up a tough fight against the no holds barred attack from the 67 ruling party legislators led by Kejriwal. 

Objecting to mention of Jaitley's name and the setting up of the commission, Gupta backing it with Rule 264 and Rule 111 claimed the Delhi Government cannot constitute a Commission as the matter is "sub judice" referring to the defamation suits. 

To which even as Speaker Ram Niwas Goel who while refusing to admit the Opposition's objection gave a ruling barring AAP legislators from using Jaitley's name. 

"Arun Jaitley has to face the heat if he is facing allegation of corruptions that have been pointed out happened during his tenure," Sisodia countered while slamming that reports that Delhi Government is not empowered to enquire into the sports scam. 

BJP workers demonstrate

BJP workers led by its general secretaries Ashish Sood and Rekha Gupta today demonstrated and stormed into the Delhi Assembly complex. .

The demonstrators, including Mahila Morcha president Kanwaljeet Sehrawat, Yuva Morcha president Nakul Bhardwaj, Poorvanchal Morcha president Dinesh Pratap Singh, media in-charge Praveen Shankar Kapoor stormed into the assembly premises around 1 pm, raising slogans "DDCA To Bahana Hai, Maqsad Rajendra Kumar Ko Bachana Hai".

After over an hour of sloganeering in the Vidhan Sabha complex, the police arrested the demonstrators and took them to North District Special Cell office.