BJP scared of Oppn, acting out of panic: Cong on Kejriwal's arrest

Soon after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest by the ED on Thursday, the Congress alleged that the BJP is scared of the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and creating all kinds of problems for the opposition out of panic.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the "arrogant" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making false claims of an electoral victory every day and trying to weaken the opposition by indulging in "illegal means" ahead of the polls.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that a "scared dictator" wants to create a dead democracy and the INDIA bloc will give a befitting reply to such designs.

"A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

"While capturing all the institutions, including the media, breaking up parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the accounts of the main opposition party were not enough for the 'devilish power', now the arrest of elected chief ministers has also become a common thing," he said.

"INDIA will give a befitting reply to this," the former Congress chief added.

Kharge, in a post on X, said the BJP, which makes false claims of an electoral victory every day, is trying to weaken the opposition by all illegal means before the Lok Sabha polls.

"If there was real confidence of victory then the accounts of the main opposition party -- Congress party would not have been frozen by misusing the constitutional institutions and leaders of opposition parties would not have been targeted right before the elections," he said.

"The truth is that BJP is already scared of the upcoming election results and in panic is creating all kinds of problems for the opposition. It's time for change! This time... out of power," the Congress president said.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said targeting Kejriwal during elections is wrong and unconstitutional, and lowering the level of politics in such a manner neither suits the prime minister nor the BJP-led Centre.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kejriwal from his residence here on Thursday evening, officials said, shortly after the high court refused to grant the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader protection from coercive action in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.

"Targeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in this manner during elections is completely wrong and unconstitutional. Lowering the level of politics in this manner suits neither the prime minister nor his government.

"Fight your critics in the electoral battle, confront them boldly and of course, attack their policies and working style -- this is democracy. But in this way, using the power of all the institutions of the country to fulfil one's political objective and weakening those by exerting pressure is against every principle of democracy," Priyanka Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

She said the bank accounts of the country's largest opposition party, Congress, have been frozen, all political parties and "their leaders are under pressure day and night from the ED, CBI, I-T, one chief minister has been put in jail and now, preparations are on to take another chief minister also to jail".

"Such a shameful scene is being seen for the first time in the independent history of India," the Congress leader alleged.

The AAP has alleged a "huge conspiracy" behind Kejriwal's arrest ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and accused the BJP of stooping to any level to make him bow down.