ACB planning to file FIR against Sisodia, says Kejriwal

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that there was a plan by the Centre to file an FIR against his deputy Manish Sisodia.

"Now that Modi is back in India, I have come to know there is a plan to register an FIR against Sisodia and to summon our Transport Minister Gopal Rai," Kejriwal told the Delhi assembly.

And raising his voice, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said he and his colleagues were not going to be cowed down by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and threats of arrest.

"We are made of steel... We are not afraid of jail," he thundered, triggering prolonged thumping of desks by AAP legislators.

Kejriwal spoke at the end of a two-day special session of the assembly convened to discuss issues related to the three municipal corporations in Delhi that are controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Taking a swipe at Modi, the chief minister wondered with what face he visited Western cities that are spotlessly clean when Delhi had become "a huge garbage dump".

Blaming the mess on the BJP-controlled municipal corporations, he said there was foul smell in many parts of Delhi.

"The MCDs are not under our control. Had they been, Delhi would have been a different place," he said.

Kejriwal alleged mounting corruption in the civic bodies, saying this was why even Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was hesitant to give a bailout of Rs 1,000 crore to pay the salaries of municipal employees.

"The municipal corporation has become a black hole... Whatever money that is given is gobbled up."

The AAP leader also accused the BJP of being "anti-Dalit and anti-minorities" and said this was the reason why BJP corporators on Thursday beat up an AAP Dalit corporator at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.

"It had nothing to do with an AAP cap he was wearing. He was beaten up because these BJP corporators cannot tolerate a Dalit corporator in their midst."

In an earlier intervention, Kejriwal targeted Modi for taking control of the ACB.

"We were doing a good job of battling corruption" after taking power in February 2015, he said. That is when Modi sent paramilitary forces to take control of the ACB, he added.

"The ACB is not in our hands," he pointed out, giving reasons why a probe had not been ordered into the so-called water tanker scam.

"Everyone knows that the Congress and BJP are hand in gloves (over corruption issues)," he said. "They are like 'pati and patni' (husband and wife)."

Kejriwal spoke after BJP legislator Vijender Gupta dramatically stood on his bench to demand action by the Kejriwal government on the water tanker scam that had taken place during the earlier Congress regime.

--IANS

am/mr/ahm/sar/