Punjab CM Mann, Delhi ministers to accompany Kejriwal to CBI office

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is scheduled to appear before the CBI on Sunday in connection with the excise policy case, will be accompanied to the federal agency's office by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and cabinet colleagues, sources said.

"It will be very difficult to silence Arvind Kejriwal. He has made space in the hearts of the truth-speaking people of this nation. Nobody can delete him from the hearts of the citizens. We will stand beside him like rocks, long live the revolution," Mann tweeted in response to Kejriwal's summon.

Sources claimed that besides Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs and Delhi ministers will accompany the party supremo to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) headquarters here.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said he will appear before the CBI in connection with the excise policy case and asserted that if he is "corrupt", then no one in the world is "honest".

Addressing a press conference here over the CBI summons against him, the Delhi chief minister claimed that BJP leaders are demanding his arrest and said if the saffron party has "ordered" the agency to arrest him, it cannot refuse to do so.

The CBI has summoned Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy case. He has been asked to be present at the agency's headquarters at 11 am on Sunday to answer queries of the investigating team, officials said.

The central agency has already arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the case.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped.

Kejriwal is likely to visit Rajghat before reaching the CBI headquarters, the sources said. The AAP is planning to stage a protest against the CBI summons to Kejriwal on Sunday. 

With PTI inputs