Kejriwal's attack on Modi disgraceful, should apologise: BJP

A furious BJP today lashed out at Arvind Kejriwal for his "disgraceful" remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said it was shameful that the CM who came from the "womb of" anti-graft stir was protecting an officer involved in a "textbook case of corruption".
Demanding an apology from the Delhi Chief Minister for calling Modi a "coward and psychopath", Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rubbished his claim that CBI raided his office, saying it was not even "touched" by the agency.
Addressing a press conference, he also questioned Kejriwal over the appointment of an officer facing corruption allegations, asking why had he not done due diligence?

Prasad said the IAS officer, Rajendra Kumar, who is principle secretary to Kejriwal, is accused of helping a private firm in getting Delhi government's contracts wherever he was posted and CBI raided his office and home after getting a court warrant.
"Which law says that CBI should have informed the chief minister before raiding his officer's office? There is no such law.... You (Kejriwal) would announce names of corrupt people in your press conferences and it was fair and here CBI is acting as per law and you claim it is bad," he said.
Prasad noted that the CBI had raided 14 places and only two of them belonged to Kumar.

The charges date back prior to the AAP government coming to power, he said.

"A textbook case of corruption is being given political colour for extraneous reasons.... The use of such expressions for our popular prime minister is totally uncalled for, unwarranted, disgraceful and condemnable," he said.
What made Kejriwal's defence of the officer more "shameful" was that he claimed to be an "epitome of virtue" having come out of the "womb of a fight against corruption".
Prasad said when CBI recently arrested a Delhi government
officer, Sanjay Pratap Singh, the AAP government had "owned it up" and highlighted its anti-corruption measures but it was now condemning CBI because the officer concerned was working with the chief minister. "It is double standards and hypocrisy," the BJP leader alleged.

"The way AAP is defending an officer facing serious charges raises questions. CBI should be allowed to work in a free and fair manner," he said.
With many political parties attacking the Centre over the raids and terming them a violation of federal structure, he noted that the CBI had raided the principal secretary of then Punjab chief minister when H D Devegowda was prime minister.
"Protecting corruption is not part of federal structure," he said.
On the Congress' charge that the government was not acting against BJP chief ministers, he claimed that the allegations against them lacked substance, accusing Congress of resorting to "lies" and changing issues every hour to disrupt Parliament.

Earlier in the day, a number of Union ministers and BJP leaders hit out at Kejriwal over his attack on Modi.
"It has become a fashion with him to quarrel with the central government and to take the name of the Prime Minister for each and every thing. The CBI does not function under the government," Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said.
Naidu claimed that "unlike during the Congress regimes", the NDA Government does not "misuse" CBI and allows it to function independently.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar termed Kejriwal's reaction as "atrocious" and accused him of "protecting" the corrupt and engaging in "worst kind of politics".

Strongly objecting to Kejriwal calling Modi a "coward and psychopath", BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said it showed the Delhi chief minister's desperation to "protect an officer accused of corruption."
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Hitting back at Kejriwal after he alleged that the CBI was looking for a Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) file that "traps" Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP said his charge was "senseless and baseless" and he had been shifting his stand on the issue since morning.
Shrikant Sharma said Kejriwal was trying to frighten the investigating agency with his choice of "extremely indecorous" words and by politicising an anti-corruption exercise.

"He will not succeed. His charges against Jaitley-ji are senseless and baseless. He has been saying different things since morning. CBI is completely independent under the Modi government," he said.
Saying that Kejriwal's comments amounted to a "flip flop" by him on the issue of corruption, Naidu further asked if the Delhi chief minister wanted CBI to give prior information before taking action against the corrupt officer.
"Kejriwal wanted CBI to have complete freedom and had been demanding the removal of the single directive, introduced by section 6A of the CBI Act and also introduced in the CVC Act, which required the investigative agency to take consent of the government even for beginning corruption investigations against government officials of the level of Joint Secretary and above.

"AAP had on May 7 last year put out a statement saying that both the NDA and UPA governments took advantage of this provision. He used to claim he was a crusader against corruption and was against it (the said directive).
"Now, what has happened to him that he is reacting so much over the action in a corruption case going back to the tenure of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit," he asked.
Naidu said that the action by CBI at a time when the Parliament session is on was further proof that the agency had acted independently.
Citing media reports, Naidu also said that a prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Branch, who had scrutinised the charge sheet in the Rs 100-crore transportation scam, had accused the officer, Rajendra Kumar, of forcing him to not finalise the report.

Slamming Kejriwal over his attack on Modi, Naidu asked whether "this is the language one uses against the Prime Minister of the country" and said that the Delhi Chief Minister is "suffering from anti-Modi phobia".