"Commander himself created trouble for his soldiers": BJP's Ajay Alok takes jibe on Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi [India], April 2 : Taking a jibe on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's recent remark of mentioning the names of party leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj during interrogation in the excise policy case, BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok said that a commander looks after his army but here the commander himself has created trouble for his soldiers.
"A commander generally takes care his army, but here the commander himself has created trouble for his soldiers. Arvind Kejriwal took the names of Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj during interrogation. Kerjriwal Ji doesn't want himself to bear the suffering, but he'll make his soldiers suffer," he said.
"First Satyendar Jain, then Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh. And now that he has been arrested, he's taking Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj with him," the BJP leader added.
Alok's statement came after the Enforcement Directorate apprised the court on Monday that during the recording of a statement in custody, Arvind Kejriwal stated that his interaction with former communication-in-charge of the AAP, Vijay Nair, was limited as he only reported to party leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj.
According to the ED submission in court, the statements of Vijay Nair himself reveal that he stayed in a Cabinet Minister's bungalow and worked from the camp office of the Chief Minister.
It was also put to the arrestee to explain why someone, who reported to other leaders of AAP, works from his camp office, which anyway is meant for the work of the CM of Delhi and not for the party, the central agency said.
ED further mentioned to the court that Arvind Kejriwal evaded replying to this by claiming unawareness of the persons who work at the CM Camp office.
It is noteworthy that Vijay Nair is not some small-time volunteer of AAP but is its head of media and communications. He was also shown different WhatsApp chats showing the involvement of Vijay Nair, who was a close associate of the arrestee and lived and worked very closely with the arrestee. The arrestee has not answered the questions posed to him by questioning the authenticity of the digital evidence shown to him, ED stated.
ED, while moving an application to send Kejriwal to judicial custody, told the court that Arvind Kejriwal also did not reveal the passwords of his digital devices, which inhibits evidence collection and also shows the non-cooperation of the arrestee.
According to the ED submission, the arrestee, Arvind Kejriwal, was shown evidence of more than 10 meetings of Vijay Nair with other co-accused persons involved in the liquor business, including liquor manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and even middlemen like Dinesh Arora and Abhishek Boinpally.
The Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15 in an alleged money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy case.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities and money laundering in framing and implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2022, which was later scrapped.
While Kejriwal was not named in the FIRs registered by the ED or the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi excise policy case, his name first found a mention in the ED's chargesheet, wherein the agency claimed that he allegedly spoke to one of the main accused, Sameer Mahendru, in a video call and asked him to continue working with co-accused and AAP communications-in-charge Vijay Nair.
Nair was among the first people to be arrested by the CBI in the case, in 2022. Subsequently, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were arrested in connection with the case.