Hours after he was questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday claimed that the agency does not have any evidence in the case related to the now-scrapped excise policy, NDTV reported.
Kejriwal was questioned for more than eight hours in connection with the case.
“The CBI asked me a total of 56 questions,” Kejriwal told reporters. “The case is fake. I am convinced they don’t have anything on us, not a single piece of evidence.”
The CBI had issued summons to Kejriwal on Friday. Before appearing for questioning at the CBI headquarters, the Aam Aadmi Party convenor had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government is very powerful and can send anyone to jail irrespective of whether they have committed a crime.
The CBI case pertains to the Delhi government’s excise policy that came into effect in November 2021. Under it, licences of 849 liquor shops were issued to private firms through open bidding. Earlier, four government corporations ran 475 liquor stores and the remaining 389 were private shops.
The CBI had arrested former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on February 26 in the same alleged scam.
On Sunday, Kejriwal claimed that the case was filed to defame the Aam Aadmi Party and its government’s work in the capital, according to NDTV.
“This liquor policy case is a lie, fabricated,” Kejriwal said. “Honesty is our ideology…We have become a national party now, which is why they [BJP] are doing this to end us.”
The chief minister also said that he will discuss more details in the special one-day Assembly session called by his government on Monday.
LG questions special Assembly session
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has opposed the special session claiming that it has been called without following due procedure, reported The Hindu.
In a note to Kejriwal, Saxena said that the session has been recommended by the Delhi Cabinet without any specified legislative business.
“I fail to understand as to under what circumstances and under which provision of the GNCTD Act, 1991, the second part of the Fourth session [Budget Session] of the Seventh Legislative Assembly has been convened instead of moving a proposal for Prorogation of the Budget Session and convening of the ‘One Day Session’ as per the Cabinet decision,” Saxena said, according to the newspaper.
In response, Kejriwal advised Saxena to hire an advisor who has some knowledge of the law and the Constitution.
Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the Speaker holds power to call a sitting “at any time after the House has been adjourned sine-die”.
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