Stung by CBI raids, Kejriwal calls Modi ‘coward’ and ‘psychopath’
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged Central Bureau of Investigation raids on the CM’s office on Tuesday, triggering a torrent of criticism from AAP leaders in what may be the next flashpoint between the Centre and city government.
“When Modi couldn’t handle me politically, he resorted to this cowardice. Modi is a coward and a psycopath,” the CM wrote on the microblogging site.
But the central agency said the raids were conducted on senior bureaucrat and CM’s secretary Rajender Kumar’s office for allegedly favouring a particular firm in bagging state tenders over the last few years.
Kejriwal, however, said this was a lie.
“CBI lying. My own office raided. Files of CM office are being looked into. Let Modi say which file he wants? My department’s files are being looked into using Rajinder as an excuse,” Kejriwal tweeted.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, however, dismissed the allegations, saying the CBI wasn’t under the Centre.
“It has become fashion for Delhi CM to quarrel with the central government and to take the PM’s name for everything,” he said.
The dramatic raids come days after the Congress paralysed Parliament over the government’s alleged vendetta in the National Herald funds misuse case, where Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are accused of illegally acquired property worth crores.
Exactly a week ago, the CBI had detained Sanjay Pratap Singh – the principal secretary in the department for welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities – for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2.2 lakh from a manpower supplier.
Senior AAP leaders attacked the government over the raids, calling the incident shameful and a new low in politics.
“Modi is trying to stop honest politics by using CBI raids as a scare. But he won’t succeed as the public is with the truth,” senior leader and deputy CM Manish Sisodia tweeted.
Since it came to power with a thumping majority last February, the AAP administration has accused the Centre of trying to run the city by proxy using lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. The two sides have clashed on the appointment and transfer of senior bureaucrats and the Delhi Police, which reports to the Union home ministry and not the city government.
Kejriwal has often hit out at the Narendra Modi government, especially over administrative control of the Capital. The latest war of words had come over the weekend in connection with the controversial demolition of a slum settlement in outer Delhi’s Shakur Basti that left hundreds of poor people homeless in the biting cold.
Read full article: Hindustan Times
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