Kejriwal sacks tainted min, dares BJP to follow suit

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday publicly sacked his Food Supply and Environment Minister Asim Ahmed Khan for allegedly demanding Rs 6 lakh as bribe from a builder through his associate, and dared Bharatiya Janata Party to follow suit in corruption charges against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. He also said that he would recommend the case to CBI for investigation.

Announcing the decision in full media glare, Kejriwal claimed that the action was taken within 24 hours of submission of the recording to his office by a complainant, the identity of the complaint was withheld for security reasons. “We received this one-hour long recording last evening regarding conversation of my Minister in which he was demanding money from a builder through a middleman to allow construction of an illegal building his Assembly constituency. We thought over it throughout the night and finally decided to remove him,” said Arvind Kejriwal. 

“I can tolerate anything but not corruption as we were born from a crusade against corruption. I am very sad to announce this decision. But I want to give the message to <g data-gr-id="57">all,</g> if I can <g data-gr-id="49">sack</g> my minister I can take action against any person,” he added.

Kejriwal was flanked by his Deputy Manish Sisodia, who announced the name of Imran Hussain, as Khan’s successor in the Cabinet. Hussain represents Ballimaran Assembly seat, also from Muslim dominated old Delhi area. A two-minute clipping of the recording was also played in the presence of media.

“If such evidence comes against any officer or Minister, action will be taken,” he added. Turning towards Sisodia who was also present at the dais, Kejriwal said, “I will not spare Manish and he will not spare me if such clinching evidence surfaces.” He even asked media persons to bring such <g data-gr-id="62">evidences</g> and promised action against anybody involved in corruption. Elaborating on the complaint against Khan, he said the government received allegations against him last night that he demanded money from a builder to continue construction of a building in his constituency of Matia Mahal.

This is the second major change in the Aam Aadmi Party government, which took charge in February. In last June, Jitender Tomar resigned as Law Minister after he was accused of faking his College degree. 

Khan had earlier been accused in the controversial onion purchase scam in which Aam Aadmi Party had reacted sharply to defend the Minister. His name had also cropped up in an infamous lynching case in Turkman gate area of his constituency in which a Muslim youth was murdered in a road rage case.

In a late evening statement, Khan claimed that he was <g data-gr-id="44">victim</g> of a conspiracy and would come out with details at an appropriate time.

Kejriwal’s move, however, was criticised by his former colleagues Yogender Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. “Two weeks ago someone told me about some audio involving Asim in Rs 6 lakh bribe. I asked for recording and verification before acting on the info,” Yadav said. 

He went on to ask why such alacrity was not shown to remove Tomar when he was given notice by Delhi High Court in fake degree case. Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta alleged widespread corruption by Kejriwal MLAs and his <g data-gr-id="55">Ministers,</g> and demanded the appointment of Lokayukta at the earliest.

“Individual actions are just to take political mileage, he must appoint Lokayukta for <g data-gr-id="50">independent</g> probe into all the allegations,” demanded Gupta. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said, “Khan was also responsible for the controversial onion purchase. Kejriwal used public money to put out an advertisement to defend him,” he alleged.