Irked over raid, Kejriwal dares PM Modi to start probe

New Delhi: Hours after the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the office of former OSD of Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain over alleged illegal appointments, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal dared the Centre to get all the appointments made by his government pro-bed. Mr Kejriwal sought to turn the tables on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by raking up the Sahara Birla papers, an issue over which he has been targeting the PM. The confrontation comes a day ahead of the swearing in of former Union home secretary Anil Baijal as the lieutenant-governor of Delhi.

“You (Centre) make your committee and get all our appointments probed. And we will form one, and you get the Sahara Birla matter probed with it. Agree? We are not scared of any probe as we have not done any wrong. Then why are you scared of a probe?” Mr Kejriwal said in a series of tweets.

Referring to the raids on his former principal secretary Rajendra Kumar’s office last December that had also triggered a political firestorm, Mr Kejriwal said Mr Modi not agreeing to an investigation by a Delhi government-appointed panel will prove that the PM “does not have the guts”.

Mr Kejriwal taunted Mr Modi saying the 2015 CBI raid in the Delhi Secretariat had thrown up “four mufflers” and that even the cost of the raid could not be recovered. Modiji had found a corrupt only in me at that point, Mr Kejriwal said. “Today he (Modi) got a raid conducted on Satyendar Jain. But we are not going to be scared by your CBI,” Mr Kejriwal said.

Earlier, Mr Kejriwal also got into a social media duel with Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta who accused the chief minister of peddling false charges, which he said won’t “mitigate your own crime”. “You levelled false charges against my wife as well. Used foul language against a woman. We are not scared of any probe but there has to be a crime,” Mr Gupta tweeted.

Mr Kejriwal alleged that the CBI has filed “seven FIRs” against Jain and “two” against deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, but did not elaborate. The CBI carried out searches at the office of the former OSD of Mr Jain in connection with alleged irregularities in his appointment at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalya and subsequently as an aide to the Minister.

A senior government official said that it is a prerogative of the minister to appoint his OSD and that there was no irregularity involved in appointing Nikunj Aggarwal to the post. “Since October, he has not been holding any official post in the Delhi government as Health Minister Satyendar Jain had discontinued his service. Mr Aggarwal had been appointed on contractual basis,” the official said.

Reacting strongly, Mr Jain tweeted, “CBI raided my office today. We will not bow down by these acts. Why not investigate Sahara Birla Diaries.”