New Delhi: A huge political storm has erupted after the CBI on Tuesday raided the office of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's secretary Rajendra Kumar.
A case has been registered against Kumar for alleged abuse of office to favour a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments.
Here are the reactions of various political personalities:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed the CBI has raided his office in central Delhi and launched a no holds barred attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
When Modi cudn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice. Modi is a coward and psychopath," he said in a tweet expressing his anguish over the raids.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed the Centre was controlling the CBI. "If Modi ji wants to send a message amongst officials who are working that if you work along with Kejriwal honestly, then they will be targeted, then it is a very dangerous message. This will have opposite effect," he warned.
The BJP hit back at Kejriwal with Union Minister Prakash Javadekar saying the CBI was only probing a complaint of corruption against an officer and maintained it has nothing to do with Kejriwal's office.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said: “It has become a fashion with the Delhi Chief Minister to quarrel with the Central Government and that, too, to take the name of the Prime Minister for each and everything. The CBI does not function under the government.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “The Chief Minister's Office has not been raided. The
raid has nothing to do with Arvind Kejriwal or his tenure. There is a corruption case against an officer of Delhi government. The raid is in relation to that officer. It is the officer (office) that has been searched
The CPI-M said: “It is unprecedented that in the name of investigating the accusations against a bureaucrat, the office of the chief minister should be sealed and files searched, as alleged by the chief minister.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she was "shocked" by the CBI raid. "Sealing of a CM's office is unprecedented. I am shocked," the Trinamool Congress chief tweeted.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the government of "murdering Constitution”.
