New Delhi: Amid continued attacks from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the CBI raid at his principal secretary's office and the alleged DDCA scam, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday hit back at the Aam Aadmi Party leader.
Writing in a blog posted on Facebook, Jaitley said Kejriwal “seems to believe in untruth and defamation, delivered in a language that borders on hysteria”.
“Free speech is unquestionably a pre-eminent Fundamental Right, but does free speech include the right to speak only falsehood?” the Finance Minister asked.
Jaitley further wrote that Kejriwal tried to deflect the attention from the CBI raid over corruption allegation by raking up the alleged DDCA scam.
“A few days ago, a Secretary of the Delhi Government was searched and arrested after being caught red handed for allegedly accepting a bribe. The CBI had conducted the operation. The Delhi Government welcomed the move. Four days later, another official close to the Chief Minister was searched for an alleged offence which related to the pre-Kejriwal period. The Chief Minister raised two pleas. First, that it violates the federal structure of the Constitution. In addition, the Chief Minister used unacceptable adjectives against the Prime Minister and, second, he questioned the purpose of the search and tried to divert attention by linking it to the Delhi Cricket body rather than alleged corruption of this official,” he wrote.
The minister said the offensive words used by the Delhi CM against the Prime Minister were “not in consonance with the federal spirit”.
It may be recalled that Kejriwal had called PM Narendra Modi a coward and psychopath, alleging the raid was conducted at his office.
He also slammed Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Bihar, Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar, for supporting Kejriwal.
“When two Chief Ministers, Mamata Banerjee Ji and Nitish Kumar Babu, supported Mr. Kejriwal, notwithstanding the use of highly objectionable words against the Prime Minister, can it be in consonance with the federal spirit? The two Chief Ministers need to redeem themselves by publicly distancing themselves from Mr. Kejriwal’s vocabulary,” Jaitley wrote.
He reiterated that the CBI raid was not aimed at the Delhi CM.
“Now that the heat and dust of the search of an IAS officer’s room has settled down, it is clear that the search had nothing to do with either the Chief Minister or his room. An official was being searched for an alleged offence in his earlier capacities. The CBI has adequately clarified that.
“Why should the Chief Minister place himself as a shield in front of an official who is facing investigation? Why should two eminent Chief Ministers lend themselves to support the blatant falsehood of Delhi’s Chief Minister?” Jaitley asked.
The minister further denied any scam when he was the president of DDCA.
“The SFIO, under the UPA regime, investigated and could not find a shred of evidence against me,” he wrote.
“I have left cricket administration in 2013. By referring to some facts of 2014 and 2015, he can’t drag me in,” he added.
