‘BJP’s political wing’: AAP’s retort to ED’s claim of links with BRS leader Kavitha

The AAP on Monday (March 18) termed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) a political wing of the BJP and dismissed its charges against the party and its national convener Arvind Kejriwal as blatant and frivolous lies.

This came after the ED said that BRS leader K Kavitha and some others "conspired" with top AAP leaders, including Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, to get favours in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy by paying ₹100 crore to the political party that rules Delhi.

Kavitha was arrested last week by the ED from Hyderabad.

The Aam Aadmi Party responded to the ED statement by saying its probe was biased.

"On earlier occasions too, ED has released such blatantly false and frivolous statements which show that instead of being a neutral investigative agency, it is working like a political wing of BJP," the party said in a statement.

ED planting stories in media: AAP minister Atishi

Delhi minister Atishi alleged that the ED is "planting stories" in the media and has not even a "penny's worth" of evidence against Kejriwal.

"ED is showing its true political colour by sending summons after summons to Kejriwal and issuing statements to the media. This whole game of ED-CBI is to stop Kejriwal from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls," she said.

The AAP termed the ED probe a "desperate attempt" to malign the image of Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia by "planting falsehoods and creating a media sensation."

ED's statement, which presents no new fact or evidence, speaks volumes of its frustration since they have not recovered a single rupee or piece of evidence in this case, despite carrying out over 500 raids and questioning thousands of witnesses, the AAP said.

ED statement

The ED in its statement said that Kavitha, along with others, was found to have conspired with the top leaders of AAP, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, for favours in the Delhi excise policy.

"In exchange for these favours, she was involved in paying ₹100 crore to the leaders of AAP," the agency said.

The AAP dismissed the allegation and said even the Supreme Court had not found credibility in the claim.

"Even the SC has discarded ED's claim that any money trail of ₹100 crore exists in this matter. The entire world knows by now that the entire excise case is fake and without an iota of evidence," it said.

The party said the ED for the last two years has been hunting for proceeds of crime in the case and has raided the houses of several AAP leaders, including Sisodia, but failed to find any dirty money.

AAP accuses BJP of arm-twisting corporates

It also accused the BJP of arm-twisting corporates, almost all of whom, it claimed, were raided by the ED before they donated to the party through electoral bonds.

"That means companies accused by ED of money laundering transferred their proceeds of crime to BJP accounts immediately after being raided."

The ED and the CBI have alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it.

The policy was scrapped by the Kejriwal government days after Delhi LG VK Saxena in July 2022 recommended a CBI probe into its formulation and implementation. Later, a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act linked to the excise policy case, was registered by the ED.

(With agency inputs)