Arvind Kejriwal Victim Of "Deep Political Conspiracy": Wife

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal alleged that her husband was a victim of a "deep political conspiracy" and urged the people to rally behind him or else no educated and honest person would like to join politics.

In her first video message after the Lok Sabha results, Ms Kejriwal alleged that her husband was arrested by the ED in the excise policy case based on a "false" statement by a witness and repeated the allegations levelled by the Aam Aadmi Party leaders against Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (MSR) - recently elected to Lok Sabha on a TDP ticket - and his son Raghava Magunta - an accused-turned-approver.

Arvind Kejriwal was a normal, educated, patriotic, and staunchly honest man, and no educated and honest person in the country will enter politics if the people of Delhi do not support him, Ms Kejriwal said.

The ED arrested Arvind Kejriwal based on the statement of TDP MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy. The Telugu Desam Party is a constituent of the ruling NDA, she said.

She claimed that MSR changed his statement to the ED about his meeting with the Delhi Chief Minister after his son Raghava Magunta Reddy was arrested and denied bail.

According to Sunita Kejriwal, MSR earlier said that he had met the Delhi Chief Minister on March 16, 2021, regarding land for a charitable trust he wanted to open in Delhi, but changed his statement on July 17, 2023, following his son's arrest.

"In his statement to the ED, MSR said Mr Kejriwal asked him in the presence of nearly 10-12 people to enter the liquor business in Delhi and pay Rs 100 crore to AAP. Would anybody ask for money before so many people?" she said.

Similar allegations were levelled by AAP leader Sanjay Singh in April.

No immediate reaction was available from the ED or MSR.

Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, even after the arrest of his son, gave several statements but kept repeating his earlier claim that he met Kejriwal regarding land for his family charitable trust, Sunita Kejriwal said.

During this time, Raghav Magunta's wife tried to die by suicide due to shock and his elderly mother's health deteriorated. Seeing all this, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy changed his statement, she claimed.

MSR said that on March 16, 2021, he went to meet Arvind Kejriwal, and his meeting lasted barely five minutes. He also said that this was his first and last meeting with the Chief Minister, she claimed.

Sunita Kejriwal mentioned that the very next day after this statement, his son got bail.

"It is clear that this statement of Magunta (Srinivasulu) Reddy is false. Magunta Reddy himself has said that this was his first and last meeting with Arvind Kejriwal and 10-12 people were also present. If someone had to ask for money from someone, would he ask a stranger in front of 10-12 people in the first meeting itself? " she said.

Appealing to people to share her video, the Delhi Chief Minister's wife alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to "finish off" Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party using the ED and CBI.

The BJP hit back at Sunita Kejriwal, saying she has "mastered the art of story-telling like her husband" and accused her of "casting aspersions" on the judiciary.

"It's surprising to see her casting aspersions on the judiciary as during her story-telling she repeatedly says that the bail of MS Reddy's son was rejected when he gave a true statement and when he buckled under pressure and changed his statement, his son was granted bail by the court," Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in his government's scrapped excise policy 2021-22. He is currently in judicial custody after being arrested by the CBI.

A trial court granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal on June 20 in the ED case but the Delhi High Court on June 25 stayed the order. He had mounted a blazing campaign in the Lok Sabha election in Delhi against the BJP after his release from Tihar jail on interim bail on May 10, telling people that it was a vote against his arrest, but proved insufficient as BJP continued its winning streak and bagged all seven seats in the national capital again, though the victory margins were less this time.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)