"Like Thief Scolding Cop": Union Minister On Arvind Kejriwal's "Honest" Remark

Union Minister Anurag Thakur has hit back at Arvind Kejriwal over the Delhi Chief Minister's comment that he is an "honest man", a day before he is scheduled to be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi liquor policy case.

Mr Kejriwal said though he will go to the CBI's office tomorrow, there is no denying that if he - whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was founded on the promise of ending corruption - is "corrupt", then "no one in the world is honest".

"If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest," Mr Kejriwal said today... But if BJP has ordered the CBI to arrest me, then the CBI will obviously follow their instructions," said the Delhi Chief Minister whose deputy, Manish Sisodia, was arrested last month for alleged corruption in framing the Delhi liquor policy, which was withdrawn later.

Mr Thakur, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, rubbished Mr Kejriwal's claims about the misuse of the CBI by the centre.

"Corrupt face of AAP CM Arvind Kejriwal is exposed. He should tell CBI how much money he and his colleagues minted out of liquor scam. Irony, Kejriwal heading cabinet of corrupt ministers is calling himself only honest man in India. Perfect example of ulta chor kotwal ko dante," Mr Thakur said, referring to the popular Hindi phrase about a thief scolding a cop.

BJP leaders have denied misuse of central agencies to target the opposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 4 told the CBI that it should not spare anyone in fighting corruption. "The country is with you," PM Modi told CBI officers in Delhi amid allegations by opposition parties, including the Congress, that the centre has been misusing its agencies to harass BJP's rivals.

The Delhi government has called a special session of the assembly on Monday to discuss the CBI's summons to Mr Kejriwal.

The CBI has alleged changes were made in the Delhi liquor policy at the behest of a lobby in exchange for kickbacks to the tune of Rs 30 crore. Mr Sisodia also held the excise portfolio. The CBI has said it is focusing on the alleged influence of a "South Lobby" of businessmen and politicians in making the liquor policy to swing in their favour using middlemen, traders and bureaucrats.