New Delhi: With his deputy Manish Sisodia's name not finding a mention in the CBI chargesheet in the excise policy case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday claimed he and the AAP are "hardcore honest". At a press conference, Kejriwal also asked the BJP if it could say the same about any of its leaders.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed its first charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case against seven accused. But Sisodia, who was named in the agency's FIR, did not figure in the charge sheet.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Kejriwal said, "Since 2015, all kinds of agencies have been probing us. But to date, no irregularities have been found in our books, and that's why I can say that we have got a certificate of honesty from the prime minister".
There was no immediate reaction from the BJP.
Kejriwal alleged the prime minister has "subjected his government and MLAs to one investigation after the other".
"That they all prove to be baseless in the end is an inference of how honest the Aam Aadmi Party is. Manish Sisodia has not been named in CBI's charge sheet in the so-called liquor scam, he said.
"Today I can say, Arvind Kejriwal is hardcore honest and the AAP is hardcore honest. I challenge BJP to tell if any of its party leaders is hardcore honest," the AAP supremo said.
His name not finding a mention in the charge sheet is more or less akin to getting a clean chit, but they are saying there could be a supplementary charge sheet, the chief minister said.
"The BJP says the prime minister works 18 hours a day. In reality, he only thinks about stalling AAP," Kejriwal alleged.
"If you (prime minister) can take out two hours each day to work for the country, the public will get a huge relief from unemployment and inflation," he said.
The Delhi chief minister claimed that 800 CBI and ED officers have been working on this excise policy case for the last six months. These agencies have been told to "ensure" that Manish Sisodia is jailed no matter what, Kejriwal alleged.
But, Friday's charge sheet proved that they "don't have an iota of evidence" against Sisodia. With barely a week from the MCD elections they would not have waited for a second to arrest Sisodia had they found a shred of incriminatory evidence against him, he claimed.
"They got multiple raids conducted, searched every single place that Sisodia was remotely related to. They got the walls of his house broken, and his mattresses torn apart. He has one bank locker which they searched thoroughly and went to his village to probe his relatives. Yet they found nothing," he told reporters.
"Now as a means to save face, they will say the investigation is going on and they are yet to file supplementary charge sheets. Such tactics won't hurt us," the AAP national convener said. Asked about the BJP releasing a series of sting videos on AAP leaders in the run-up to the December 4 municipal polls in Delhi, Kejriwal said voters have to choose between 10 videos of the BJP and 10 guarantees of his party.
Later in the day, AAP's Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha said the BJP and its top leadership should apologise for "conspiring to defame Manish Sisodia."