In an alleged crackdown against the opposition leaders, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the country's premier economic intelligence agency, has fixed a new target - Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal as the agency has issued a summon to him, directing him to appear for an investigation into Delhi's liquor policy case, under which top leaders of AAP have already been brought into ED's scanner. 

The summon to Arvind Kejriwal has led the AAP to claim that he could get arrested by the agency following the investigation. AAP's top leader Manish Sisodia has been serving incarceration after getting arrested by the ED in the liquor policy case, while several other leaders have also been facing raids. The multiple raids against AAP leaders have culminated to issuing summon to Arvind Kejriwal. 

ED has asked Kejriwal to appear before the officials on Thursday - November 2 and predicting that he could get arrested, the AAP leaders hinted that the party is preparing for every eventuality in case Kejriwal gets apprehended. The summon to Arvind Kejriwal, who is a staunch critic of the BJP regime, has sparked a fresh political friction in Delhi with AAP alleging that the BJP is targeting the opposition Chief Ministers ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

According to IANS, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Wednesday, while addressing a press conference, said that the BJP government has made a plan to lodge all the opposition Chief Ministers in jail to get a freeway in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Raghav Chadha further said that the investigation agencies will first arrest Kejriwal after which they will go after other opposition Chief Ministers including Hemant Soren of Jharkhand, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, and MK Stalin of Tamil Nadu. 

Echoing Chadha's claims, Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj had also claimed that the BJP regime has plans to arrest Arvind Kejriwal as he has spoken against the government. Several leaders and cadres of AAP went perplexed over who will lead the party if Kejriwal is arrested by the ED. IANS quoted a leader of the party saying that as senior party leaders like Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, and Sanjay Singh are being imprisoned, the Cabinet may be run from inside the prison as there is no discussion as to who will lead the party. 

While Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were arrested under the liquor scam case, Satyender Jain was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case. It is the first time that Kejriwal has been summoned by the ED in the liquor policy case. Earlier this April, he was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same case. As Kejriwal has been summoned for investigation, the AAP leaders are slamming the BJP regime that it doesn't like the growth and popularity of the party, that is posing a direct threat to them. 

ED's target is Arvind Kejriwal, but he has a different target

While ED has planned to confine Kejriwal in the liquor policy scam, it appears that he has a different target - expanding AAP's political infrastructure across the country. Several sources confirmed that Kejriwal will not be appearing before the ED for investigation on Thursday, rather he would skip the summon and would travel to assembly-poll bound Madhya Pradesh for election campaigns. 

Kejriwal was scheduled to appear before the ED's Delhi office at 11 am on Thursday - November 2, but he had written a letter to the ED, urging to take back the summon and termed it 'illegal and politically motivated'. Kejriwal claimed that the ED's notice is illegal and politically motivated, sent at the behest of the BJP. He is all set to visit Madhya Pradesh on Thursday to campaign for the AAP ahead of the assembly polls, which will be held later this month. 

As Kejriwal has skipped the summon, it has been reported that the ED will be issuing a fresh summon against him as the central agency is gripping its hold on the AAP leaders after the Supreme Court rejected Manish Sisodia's bail petition. The liquor case involves a scam of Rs 338 crore, which is said to be the earnings of private parties who got liquor licence as per the policy, which has now been abrogated. 

BJP hit back at Kejriwal for skipping the ED's summon. BJP's spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told reporters on Thursday, "Arvind Kejriwal's claim that it is politically motivated makes no sense. The Supreme Court denied bail to Manish Sisodia and cited a tentatively established money trial of Rs 338 crore. Even the Congress has accused the Kejriwal government of corruption. Is Kejriwal saying all of them are politically motivated?"

Responding to ED's summon, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj has claimed that the ED is acting without any regard to the rule of law as it has been summoning anybody it wants without court oversight. In a video statement, Bharadwaj said, "Even during colonial times, the police needed a warrant to search people because it was understood that if cops are allowed to raid people without court warrant, then it would turn into bullying. Today, the ED doesn't use warrants. Its officers decide whose house to raid. When will the ED raid the homes of BJP leaders whose names have come up in corruption allegations?"

Another raid, another Delhi Minister

On Thursday, the ED sleuths had stormed the properties connected to Delhi Minister and AAP leader Raaj Kumar Anand. The raids are being carried out at nine locations and they are conducted in connection with a money laundering case. 57-year-old Anand is the minister for social welfare and SC/ST welfare and representing Patel Nagar constituency in the Delhi Assembly. 

The ED officials are escorted by a team of CRPF and the residence of the minister in the Civil Lines area and a few locations are being searched. The raid at Anand's residence has become a fresh trouble for AAP and Arvind Kejriwal, whose government is reeling under ordeals. If Anand gets arrested, he will be the fourth AAP leader after Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, and Sanjay Singh to come under ED's custody in a year. It is expected that after taking Anand into custody, the ED would beef up its efforts to bring Kejriwal under its scanner. 

#WATCH | ED raid underway at the residence of Delhi Minister Raaj Kumar Anand in Civil Lines area. Searches started early morning today. Raids are underway at 9 premises linked to him. Details awaited pic.twitter.com/2Q0ZuFIjGo

— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2023