Arvind Kejriwal (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: The political tremors from the Delhi excise policy verdict rippled beyond the courtroom on Friday as the Congress lashed out at the ruling BJP, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal’s discharge was timed against the backdrop of the Gujarat and Punjab elections.Kejriwal, who had briefly allied with the Congress ahead of the 2024 general elections, hit back at his former ally, accusing it of having “no shame” and drawing a contrast between AAP leaders going to jail and the Congress high command remaining out of legal clutch.
Soon after a Delhi court granted relief to Kejriwal in the alleged liquor scam case, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera attacked the BJP, likening it to an “Icchadhari Naag” (shape-shifting serpent).In a post on X, he alleged that the BJP was deploying central agencies as “campaign tools” with key state elections approaching, calling it “vendetta as governance.”Khera argued that the BJP’s ideological positions were secondary to its “obsessive goal”: the realisation of a “Congress-Mukt Bharat.” He cited what he described as the party’s “fluctuating relationship” with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as evidence of political opportunism.“The BJP is not a political party. It is a shape-shifter, a wishful serpent – Icchadhari Naag. It will stoop to any level for one obsessive goal: defeat Congress – Congress Mukt Bharat. For 12 years they spewed venom at the TMC. And now? Narendra Modi himself is showering it with praise – not out of respect, but to land a cheap blow at Congress,” Khera’s post read.Khera also predicted that cases against Congress leaders would intensify as elections draw closer, citing senior leader P Chidambaram as an example.“Elections are coming. So the script is predictable. Cases against Congress leaders will suddenly accelerate – @PChidambaram_IN has already been dragged back into the spotlight because Tamil Nadu is going for polls,” he wrote in the post.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently granted prosecution sanction against Chidambaram in the Aircel Maxis Deal and INX Media cases.“Meanwhile, proceedings against their “convenient allies” in the AAP and others will quietly vanish in light of the Gujarat and Punjab elections,” he wrote on X.Describing the developments as part of the “BJP playbook,” Khera alleged that the ruling party uses central agencies as “campaign tools”.“This is the BJP playbook: vendetta as governance and agencies as campaign tools,” he said.
Kejriwal hits back with ‘Congress has no shame’ remark
Responding to the Congress’ remarks, Kejriwal targeted Pawan Khera, who suggested that the narrative was being pushed to politically corner the Congress ahead of the Punjab and Gujarat elections.Questioning how many Congress leaders had gone to jail, the AAP supremo said the party had “no shame.”“I want to ask the Congress – Kejriwal went to jail. Did Robert Vadra go to jail? Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Rahul Gandhi go to jail? Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Sonia Gandhi ji went to jail? What is Congress saying? Does it have no shame?” Kejriwal asked.The political exchange followed a detailed order from a Special Court in Delhi, which held that the prosecution had failed to disclose “even the threshold of a prima facie suspicion, far less the grave suspicion” required for framing of charges in the CBI case linked to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.In a strongly worded ruling, Special Judge (PC Act) Jitender Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court said the prosecution’s case was “legally infirm, unsustainable, and unfit to proceed any further in law”.The court further observed that when the material collected by the agency was tested on admissibility, relevance and probative value, “the appearance of a coherent conspiracy dissolves,” exposing the allegations as being founded on inadmissible material and post-facto reconstruction.Among those discharged are Arvind Kejriwal, and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and 21 others.The court was also critical of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) reliance on approver statements, cautioning that granting pardon to an accused and then using his testimony to fill gaps in the prosecution’s case or implicate additional accused would undermine constitutional safeguards.The FIR in the case was registered in August 2022 following a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, alleging that the now-scrapped excise policy was designed to favour select liquor licensees by reducing licence fees and fixing profit margins, leading to kickbacks and losses to the exchequer.
