Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 16: Apprehensive of his likely arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the alleged liquor scam, the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, despite enjoying almost an unassailable majority in the state Assembly has moved a motion of confidence in his government for a show of strength.
Mr Kejriwal on Friday moved the motion in the Assembly and was accepted by the Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and put it for discussion and voting on Saturday, a day on which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief is also supposed to appear before a court and explain why he had skipped the five earlier summons issued by the ED. The move to adopt a vote of confidence in his government comes after the ED issued sixth summon to him and also to his minister Atishi in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor scam.
In the 70-member Delhi Assembly, Mr Kejriwal’s AAP has 62 members and the BJP only eight. Mr Kejriwal has also alleged that the BJP was trying to topple his government by “buying” the AAP MLAs.
Moving the vote of confidence motion in the Assembly, Mr Kejriwal said two AAP MLAs told him that they were approached by members of the BJP who claimed that the Delhi chief minister would be arrested soon. “The MLAs were told that 21 AAP legislators have agreed to leave the party and more are in touch with the BJP. They offered the MLAs ₹ 25 crore to join the BJP. The MLAs told me they did not accept. When we spoke to other MLAs, we found that they had not contacted 21, but seven. They were trying to carry out another Operation Lotus,” Mr Kejriwal said.
“So it is clear that the alleged liquor policy scam is not a scam at all but an attempt to break our party and topple the government by filing false cases like they have in other states. Their aim is not to carry out an investigation but to arrest our leaders – and they have already arrested some – in the guise of the liquor policy case. Their aim is to topple the government because they know they can never win elections in Delhi,” the AAP chief claimed.
Claiming that the BJP wanted to form its own government in Delhi by doing so, the chief minister said, “By god’s grace and thanks to people’s faith in us, they were unsuccessful. So, to see for ourselves and show the people that not one of our MLAs defected and all of them are with us, I am presenting a motion of confidence.”
Saturday’s trust vote, which comes on the heels of Mr Kejriwal and Delhi Minister Atishi being served notices by the crime branch over their allegations that the BJP was trying to “poach” AAP MLAs, will be the party’s second in two years. After making similar allegations that the BJP was trying to topple its government, the party had tabled, and won, a confidence motion in 2022 as well.
Issuing its sixth summons to Mr Kejriwal on Wednesday, the ED has asked him to appear before the agency for questioning on Monday in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. The AAP chief has skipped five summons so far and he and his party have repeatedly claimed that the summonses were illegal and the agency’s only aim is to arrest him.
On February 3, a day after he skipped the fifth summons, the ED also moved the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi, which has directed Mr Kejriwal to appear before it on Saturday and explain why he has not heeded the agency’s earlier calls.
Under the liquor policy, introduced in November 2021, the government withdrew from retail sale of liquor and allowed private licensees to run stores. In July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar flagged gross violations in the policy and alleged “undue benefits” to liquor licensees. The policy was scrapped in September that year.
The CBI has alleged that liquor companies were involved in framing the excise policy, which would have earned them a 12% profit. It said a liquor lobby dubbed the “South Group” had paid kickbacks, part of which were routed to public servants. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged laundering of the kickbacks.
The BJP has claimed that the proceeds of the alleged scam were used by the AAP to fund its campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2022, in which it got 12.91% of the votes and established itself as a national party.
Last month, Kejriwal had alleged that he was on the brink of being arrested in the liquor policy case as part of a BJP conspiracy to topple the AAP government in Delhi and that the BJP was also attempting to contact AAP MLAs, urging them to switch sides in lieu of cash of up to Rs 25 crore. Countering the CM’s allegations and threatened legal action against the chief minister, AAP minister Atishi and MLAs Durgesh Pathak and Dilip Pandey.
Kejriwal has been asked to appear before the central probe agency on February 19. Previously, he was summoned on February 2, January 18 and January 3 this year, and on December 21 and November 2 in 2023 all of which he skipped. The chief minister consistently labels these notices as “illegal.”
The sixth summons follows a Delhi court’s response to an ED-filed complaint, instructing Kejriwal to appear, asserting that prima facie, the AAP chief is “legally bound” to comply. “From the contents of the complaint and the material placed on record, prima facie offence under Section 174 of the IPC is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against accused Arvind Kejriwal…” “Accordingly, issue summons to accused Arvind Kejriwal for the offence under Section 174 of the IPC for February 17, 2024,” the judge said.
Notably, key AAP leaders—Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh—have been jailed in money laundering cases.