Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday called the arrest of senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh “completely illegal” and claimed that more opposition leaders will be arrested in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday morning raided AAP Rajya Sabha member Singh’s home in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy and later arrested him.
‘The arrest of Sanjay Singh is completely illegal. This shows (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji’s nervousness. They will arrest many more opposition leaders until the elections,’ the AAP national convener said in a post on X.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal termed the ED raids at Singh’s residence the “last desperate attempt” of a party that is staring at defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Many such raids will take place but there is nothing to be scared of, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener said.
‘For the last one year, we have been seeing that there is a cacophony surrounding an alleged ‘liquor scam.’ To date there hasn’t been any recovery of money, more than a thousand such raids have been conducted and many people have been arrested. They have been framing numerous accusations on us from time to time. Earlier they accused us of ‘classroom scams’ in schools, scams in the purchase of buses, construction of roads, water and electricity supply,’ Kejriwal said earlier in the day. Claiming that thousands of raids have been carried out against them but not a single penny has been recovered till date, he asserted nothing will be found at Singh’s house.
‘The BJP is rattled. They believe that they’re going to face massive defeat in the national elections of 2024. These are the last desperate attempts of a losing party. Yesterday it happened with many journalists, now it’s happening with Sanjay Singh, and as elections come closer it’ll happen to many,’ he claimed.
The CM said such raids will only increase as the election nears. ‘ED, CBI, I-T and police - all the agencies will become active as the elections come closer. Many such raids will happen. But there is no need to be scared,’ he added.