AAP, Kejriwal promoting corruption in Delhi, Punjab: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday accused AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of "promoting" corruption in Delhi and Punjab, and said it is very unfortunate that a party born out of an anti-graft movement is busy defending its leaders who are in jail for alleged corruption.

Congress leader Alka Lamba also said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have been "misused" so much that even when there may be legitimate grounds for their actions, suspicions and fears are natural. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Lamba alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal "promote" corruption in Delhi and Punjab, and defend their "corrupt leaders".

She also expressed concern over what she said was "deteriorating" law and order situation in Punjab under the AAP government. "It is very unfortunate that the party which was born out of the movement to fight against corruption, today the same party and its chief Arvind Kejriwal are leaving the people of Delhi at the mercy of God and busy defending their leaders who are jailed for corruption," she said. She alleged that due to Kejriwal's "stubbornness" of running Punjab "remotely" sitting in Delhi, the law and order in Punjab is in poor condition.

The infamous liquor scam, in which AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is in jail, was first exposed by the Congress, she claimed. "Sisodia and other accused are going through a legal process. The law will take its course. But instead of giving factual answers to even a single question related to the liquor scam, AAP and Kejriwal, who claims to be staunchly honest, are engaged in garnering sympathy by claiming themselves to be victims," she said. "After the CBI, now ED has also arrested Sisodia. If he is so staunchly honest and he is sure of his innocence, then why hasn't he gone to the Delhi High Court to get the FIR against him quashed," she asked. Lamba said that the Aam Aadmi Party government should say that on whose behest, Sisodia "misused the feedback unit" to keep an eye on the activities of political people and parties. Her remarks on a day the Enforcement Directorate produced Sisodia, under arrest in a money laundering case related to the city government's excise policy, before a special court and sought his custody for 10 days. Lamba said that former health minister of AAP, Satyendar Jain, is in jail for the last several months and is not even able to secure bail from court.

"The way Mr. Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain went behind bars because of their corruption and Kejriwal is constantly defending them, it can be said that there is a world of difference between their words and their actions," Lamba said.

"If a list of corruption cases of Aam Aadmi Party is given, then it will become a never-ending story. The reality of Aam Aadmi Party, difference between their words and actions, should be known to the public. It is necessary to bring to the fore and Congress, being a responsible political party, will continue to expose the corruption of AAP," she asserted. Talking about Punjab, Lamba claimed that the people of the state had been forced to live under the shadow of fear. "What happened recently in Ajnala of Amritsar is enough to tell the condition of law and order in Punjab...We want to ask Kejriwal whether the control of the Punjab Police is not with the Aam Aadmi Party's Bhagwant Mann government? Whom do you hold responsible for the daily increasing crime in Punjab? Is it not your responsibility for the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab?" she said. Last month, self-styled Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh's supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the police station in Ajnala on the outskirts of Amritsar, extracting an assurance from the police that kidnapping case accused Lovepreet Singh would be released.