Arun Jaitley has sued Mr Kejriwal and five other leaders of Aam Aadmi Party over their allegations of corruption in Delhi 's cricket board the DDCA, which Mr Jaitley headed till 2013.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley today told a court that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others made defamatory remarks against him to "deflect attention from a CBI probe against a particular person working with Kejriwal."
The union minister has sued Mr Kejriwal and five other leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party over their allegations of corruption in Delhi's cricket board the DDCA, which Mr Jaitley headed till 2013. Mr Jaitley has filed a criminal defamation case and a civil suit demanding Rs 10 crore in damages.
In his complaint, Mr Jaitley had said that Mr Kejriwal and other AAP leaders, with common intention, have from December 15 undertaken "a false, malicious and defamatory campaign against him and his family members for political mileage causing irreversible damage to him."
"Kejriwal has falsely stated that money was siphoned off and I was the beneficiary," Mr Jaitley told the court today, and also said, "During my tenure as DDCA president, I have not received any money from anybody."
Mr Jaitley, who is a well-known lawyer, spoke in court himself as he recorded his statement.
Outside the Patiala House court, many BJP leaders and workers, including Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyaya and BJP lawmaker Ramesh Bidhuri, gathered in solidarity. "This is not a show of strength. We are standing by our leader against whom the AAP leadership has made blatantly false statements only to divert attention from the CBI case against the CM's officer," said party spokesperson Mamta Kala.
The Aam Aadmi Party's blitz of allegations against Mr Jaitley came soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI raided the office of Mr Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajender Kumar, at the Delhi Secretariat.
Mr Kejriwal, whose office is on the same floor, alleged that the CBI conducted the day-long raid to access a file on DDCA in his office.
Today's visit to Patiala House was Mr Jaitley's second. He had also gone personally to court to file his case against the Delhi chief minister and others on December 21.
In a packed courtroom, Mr Jaitley's lawyer had cited social media posts and reports and said that the AAP had caused irreparable damage to the minister's reputation.
"Arun Jaitley should not try to intimidate us with a case. Our fight against corruption will continue," Arvind Kejriwal said in response to the defamation suit.