Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Friday hit out at the BJP over the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor scam, and said the Enforcement Directorate’s work is now limited to “political sabotage”.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kejriwal in an excise policy-linked money laundering case Thursday night and took him to the agency’s headquarters here, officials said.
The arrest, the first of a sitting chief minister, came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.
“ED’s work is now limited to political sabotage. This is murder of democracy,” Gehlot said at a press conference here.
Targeting the saffron party, the former Rajasthan chief minister said for the first time in the country, leaders holding constitutional posts are being arrested.
He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is “making the noise of winning 400 seats day and night in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls does not have the confidence of winning even 200 seats, hence such dictatorial steps are being taken”.
The arrest comes within two months after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was arrested – another prominent leader of the opposition. Soren had resigned as the Jharkhand chief minister just before his arrest, making way for Champai Soren to take the mantle of the government.