Kejriwal arrest: BJP jittery ahead of LS polls, say INDIA bloc partners

Several political parties condemned Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest by the ED on Thursday, claiming that it shows how "jittery" the ruling BJP at the Centre is with less than a month to go for the Lok Sabha polls.

The opposition parties also accused the BJP of indulging in vendetta politics. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday evening.

Reacting to the development, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general-secretary Sitaram Yechury claimed the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are "in panic" over their impending rejection by people in the Lok Sabha polls.

"Strongly condemn the arrest of Delhi CM, Shri Arvind Kejriwal by the ED. It's the second sitting CM of the INDIA bloc to be arrested," Yechury said in a post on X. "Clearly, Modi and the BJP are in panic over people's rejection in the ongoing elections."

The Left leader said Kejriwal's arrest will only "cement" people's desire to defeat the BJP in the Parliamentary polls. "All opposition leaders who defected and joined the BJP are protected and patronised. They are the 'Satya Harishchandras'! These arrests will only cement people's desire to defeat BJP, defend democracy and Indian Constitution," he said.

CPI general secretary D. Raja claimed that the BJP's "desperation" before the general election is on full display. "They know the hollowness of their claims of 400 seats and that's why opposition is being targeted by abusing central agencies. The arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and the arrest of then Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren show how jittery the BJP is. This harassment is only intended to intimidate the opposition. People will give a befitting answer to this in elections by throwing BJP out of power," Raja said in a post on X.

Raja was referring to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, whom the ED arrested in Ranchi on 31 January after over seven hours of questioning on money laundering charges in an alleged land fraud case.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said Kejriwal's arrest will give birth to a new people's revolution. "Those who are themselves imprisoned in the fear of defeat, what will they achieve by imprisoning someone else? BJP knows that it will not come to power again and because of this fear, it wants to remove the opposition leaders from the public by any means at the time of elections, arrest is just an excuse," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a post on X.

People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said Kejriwal's arrest reeks of political vendetta and growing authoritarianism. "The arbitrary arrest of yet another CM by ED reeks of political vendetta and growing authoritarianism," the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in a post on X.

She claimed that the arrest has exposed the BJP's fears and accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the Lok Sabha polls even before the voting. "This cowardly act has exposed fears of the ruling party now resorting to desperate measures by manipulating elections even before they are held. History has shown that tyranny never prevails in the face of unified resistance. We will not be intimidated," the former Union minister added.

With inputs from PTI