Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders declared on Thursday that they consider the purported Delhi liquor scam to be baseless. They affirmed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is willing to collaborate with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) if they issue legal summons to him.
Arvind Kejriwal, who serves as the national convenor of the AAP, declined to attend the Enforcement Directorate's summons related to the Delhi excise policy case on Wednesday. He labeled the summons as illegal and claimed it to be politically motivated.
AAP leader Jasmine Shah said the investigation into the alleged liquor scam has been going on for the last two years but so far, no recovery has been made as evidence by the ED. The so-called liquor scam investigation is fake. The inquiry in this case has been going on for the last two years and the ED has called more than 500 witnesses and conducted over 1,000 raids but so far, not even Rs 1 has been recovered as evidence, Shah said.
It is a conspiracy to target the top leaders of the INDIA bloc and also arrest Kejriwal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to stop them from campaigning, he added. The AAP and Arvind Kejriwal are ready to cooperate in any investigation on the condition that the summons is legal, he said.
Emphasizing a perceived trend in the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) apprehension of AAP leaders, Shah pointed out that BJP leaders seem to anticipate and disclose the impending actions even before the ED initiates them. Citing the arrests of Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh in the alleged liquor scam case as examples, he asserted that a consistent pattern has emerged in these incidents.
AAP's chief national spokesperson, Priyanka Kakkar, expressed concern, stating that leaders from their party have been consecutively detained without sufficient evidence. However, she emphasized that they have consistently emerged unblemished after thorough scrutiny.
In this case also, it may take some time but justice will be served. We believe in the law, she said. Kejriwal had earlier refused to appear before the ED on November 2 and December 21.