With reports that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal could be charged by the police for the physical assault on the Chief Secretary on February 19, the Aam Aadmi Party has yet again accused the BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre of seeking to destabilise the Delhi Government. This is not the first occasion that the AAP has made the allegation, nor will it be the last. It is unfair to drag politics into an incident of criminal conduct. If Delhi Police does not have a credible case against the Chief Minister, the court will dismiss the charges against him. For now, the matter stands as follows: The police swung into action after the Chief Secretary lodged a complaint with it on February 20, alleging that he had been slapped and punched by two AAP Legislators and that he had been wrongfully restrained in a room at the Chief Minister’s residence late night on February 19.
The two MLAs named were arrested, and IAS officers in Delhi organised protests and refused to attend meetings called by AAP Ministers. Meanwhile, the police questioned the then advisor to the Chief Minister who was at the meeting and who supposedly told the interrogators that Arvind Kejriwal had been present during the assault but did nothing to prevent the incident. The Chief Minister too was questioned subsequently by the police. There appears to be little doubt that the incident which the Chief Secretary referred to in his complaint, did indeed take place. It is now for the police to establish Kejriwal’s culpability.
Incidentally, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too was questioned since he was present at the meeting. It is obvious that the AAP is wanting to give a political spin to the incident to draw attention away from the criminal conduct that its senior leaders are alleged to be have been involved in. The infamous sit-in by Kejriwal and three of his colleagues at the Lt Governor’s residence — refusing to leave the place for days together and spending the night stretched out on the sofas in the room, as unwanted guests — was part of that game plan. Unfortunately for the Delhi Chief Minister and his party, the people are no longer willing to buy his dramatic flourishes. Political stunts cannot take the place of governance. If Kejriwal gets charged by the police, he has one more tough legal battle ahead. He had caved in to a few others in the recent past, when he had to wriggle out of defamation cases by tendering apologies to his opponents.
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