"Opposition-Free India": Kapil Sibal On Arvind Kejriwal's CBI Summons

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday hit out at the BJP over the CBI summoning Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that the ruling party wants to establish an "Opposition-free India" and is seeking to "malign" the image of leaders who stand up against it.

Mr Sibal urged all Opposition parties to speak up in one voice against this "misuse" of probe agencies and asserted that it will be difficult to take on the BJP until all such parties stand together.

"They (the BJP) want an Opposition-free India and are targeting all Opposition leaders. We've seen how they have targeted Opposition chief ministers of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and other leaders," he said in a statement.

Mr Sibal also alleged that the BJP has misused provisions of the Tenth Schedule to topple elected governments.

The BJP wants to "malign" the image of Opposition leaders and is "misusing" the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate for it, he alleged.

That is why the ruling party knows how many seats they will get in advance, he added.

Mr Sibal said he had predicted the action against Mr Kejriwal as he was taking on the government and it was in line with the targeting of other Opposition leaders.

The CBI on Friday summoned Mr Kejriwal to appear before it on April 16 in connection with the excise policy scam case in which his former deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested last month.

Reacting to the development, Mr Sibal said on Twitter, "CBI summons Kejriwal, BJP says: Law on course. My take: Persecution on course!" Mr Sibal, who was a Union minister during UPA 1 and 2, quit the Congress in May last year and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an Independent member with the Samajwadi Party's support.

He recently floated the non-electoral platform 'Insaaf', aimed at fighting injustice.

According to the notice issued by the CBI, Mr Kejriwal has been called to appear at the agency headquarters at 11 am on Sunday to answer queries of the investigating team as a witness in the case, officials said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called it a conspiracy and confirmed that Mr Kejriwal will appear before the agency on Sunday.

The BJP intensified its attack on AAP convenor Kejriwal, accusing him of being the "mastermind" of the alleged liquor policy scam as the CBI summoned him for questioning.

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