CS assault case: BJP demands Kejriwal's resignation

The BJP on Tuesday demanded Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's resignation soon after a court here issued summons to him, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 11 other AAP legislators as accused in an alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.

"This has happened for the first time when a Chief Minister would be present in the court as an accused. Thus, on moral grounds we demand his resignation," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Delhi unit spokesperson Harish Khurana told IANS.

He said: "We have seen former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana, who resigned on moral grounds after his name figured in a list of politicians allegedly involved in a hawala scandal in 1995."

Attacking Kejriwal and his party leaders, Khurana said: "They had claimed that they have come to change the politics. But what they are doing?"

The BJP leader's remarks came after a court here accepted the Delhi Police charge-sheet and asked all the 13 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders to appear before the court on October 25.

The Delhi Police in August charge-sheeted Kejriwal, Sisodia, Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohania over the alleged assault of the Chief Secretary.

They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for voluntarily causing hurt and obstructing a public servant to deter him/ her from doing duty, wrongful confinement and assault.

They have also been accused of insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, punishment of abetment and unlawful assembly, among others.

On the other hand, the AAP has called the case a "midnight conspiracy to defame the Delhi Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and 11 MLAs in a false and laughable case".

Chief Secretary Prakash had in February alleged that he was beaten up by AAP MLAs in the presence of Kejriwal at the Chief Minister's residence on the night of February 19 where he had been called for a late-night meeting.

The case was filed the next morning and Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Later, they were released on bail.

--IANS

aks/nir