ED wants AAP's LS poll strategy details from Kejriwal's phone, says Atishi

The Enforcement Directorate is working as BJP's political weapon and it wants to get details of AAP's Lok Sabha election strategy by accessing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's phone, senior AAP leader Atishi alleged on Friday.

Kejriwal, who is the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was arrested by the central probe agency on March 21 in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case and is in its custody till April 1.

The insistence of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into Kejriwal's mobile-phone, which is a few months old and did not exist when the policy was formed and implemented, proves that the agency is working as a "political weapon" of the BJP, Atishi alleged at a press conference here.

The AAP leader, who is a minister in the Kejriwal government, said that "actually it is the BJP and not the ED that wants to know what is there on Kejriwal's phone".

The excise policy was implemented in 2021-22 and the chief minister's current phone is just a few months old, she claimed.

The ED has said that Kejriwal's phone of that period is not available, and now, it wants the password of his new phone, Atishi said.

"They want it because they will find in it details of AAP's Lok Sabha poll strategy, campaign plans, talks with INDIA bloc leaders and information regarding media and social media strategy," she said.

The bloc has been formed by some opposition parties, including the AAP, the TMC, the Congress, the DMK and the SP, to counter the BJP in the parliamentary polls.

The 2021-22 policy was scrapped following allegations corruption.