I don't need to respond to rubbish: Arun Jaitley on Arvind Kejriwal's allegations

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who came under personal attack from Arvind Kejriwal over the CBI raids on tainted bureaucrat Rajender Kumar, said he would not respond to the allegations made by the Delhi chief minister, dismissing them as "rubbish".

Addressing reporters on Tuesday evening, Kejriwal had claimed that the CBI was conducting raids in his office because there were some files relating to alleged corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) when Jaitley had held charge.

Jaitley's terse response to this was, "His (Kejriwal) morning statement appeared to be prima facie incorrect, but the evening one seems to be absolute rubbish. And I don't think I need to respond to rubbish."

This was just the latest set of barbs to fly between the AAP and BJP on Tuesday. Soon after the raids began, Kejriwal had tweeted, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "coward and psychopath".

This brought out a sharp response from the BJP, which demanded an immediate apology.
"Arvind Kejriwal should apologize to the Prime Minister for using words like 'coward'. It is totally uncalled for, unwarranted and shameful," said Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

"The allegations against Rajender Kumar are very serious. Should we presume that you did not undertake any due diligence while appointing your secretary? Unfortunately, a textbook case of corruption is being given political colour," Prasad added.

Other BJP leaders and Union ministers took shots at Kejriwal. "Arvind Kejriwal's reaction on the CBI raid is atrocious. CBI raids only when they receive a credible complaint and they want to investigate the corruption matter. Kejriwal is protecting corruption," said Union minister Prakash Javadekar.

"And instead of immediately taking action against his officials, he is accusing the Prime Minister. This is worst kind of politics," he added.

Javadekar maintained it was "hypocrisy of politics" that Kejriwal's party came into existence on the plank of anti-graft movement but is supporting corruption now - an apparent reference to AAP's angry reaction to CBI's raid at Delhi principal secretary Rajender Kumar's office.

"When CBI is acting against corruption, he is accusing PM of corruption. This is absolutely unacceptable. He (Kejriwal) is exposed through and he is protecting corruption," Javadekar said.

Kejriwal too kept up his battle against the Centre through statements and tweets. He also received some backing from Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who expressed shock at the "unprecedented" step of sealing a chief minister's office.