Didn’t ask Jethmalani to use objectionable words: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday told the Delhi high court that there was no instruction from him to his counsel Ram Jethmalani to use objectionable remarks against Arun Jaitley in the defamation case filed by the Union minister.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief also said that he has written a letter to Mr Jethmalani to refute his claim that objectionable words were used in the proceedings before the joint registrar on May 17 as per his instructions.

In his affidavit, Mr Kejriwal said it was “inconceivable that he would even think of instructing the senior counsel to use such objectionable words”.

The chief minister denied the charge of Mr Jaitley that the questions with derogatory remarks were “clearly designed to insult and/or annoy” him.

Mr Kejriwal said that he has even instructed his counsel on record, Anupam Srivastava, to remind Mr Jethmalani that no such instructions were issued to him in his meeting with him.

Mr Jethmalani, during the May 17 proceedings, had claimed that the words were used by him in pursuance to instructions received from the AAP supremo. “That with due respect it is submitted that neither the answering defendant (Kejriwal) nor the counsel briefing the senior counsel (Jethmalani) gave instructions to the senior counsel to use the objectionable words on May 17, 2017,” the affidavit filed before Justice Manmohan said.

The cross-examination of Mr Jaitley by Mr Jethmalani on May 17 had witnessed heated exchanges between them.

Mr Jaitley, who had filed the civil defamation suit claiming `10 crore damages from Mr Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders, had filed another defamation suit of `10 crore against the chief minister alone. Due to the May 17 incident, the proceedings in the first lawsuit had been adjourned till July 28.