AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal dares govt to arrest him on donation controversy

New Delhi, Feb 3: Striking a defiant note against BJP's mounting attack on AAP on the donation issue, Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday dared the government to "arrest" him over the allegations and said his party was ready to face investigation by any central agency including CBI.

"The government is in your hands. All the police and investigating agencies are with you. The CBI, Enforcement Directorate, IB and I-T department are with you. If you have the courage why don't you arrest me," he said.

Accusing BJP of trying to defame him ahead of the elections, he said the government "does not have the guts" to take action against him as the allegations against him were false.

Addressing an election rally in East Delhi's Trilokpuri constituency, Kejriwal hit back at Jaitley for his comments that "AAP was caught red-handed" in receiving "dubious" funds. A breakaway group of AAP yesterday accused the party of receiving four cheques of Rs 50 lakh each on April 15 last year from dubious companies triggering a major controversy.

Jaitley called the Rs 2 crore donation through cheques of Rs 50 lakh each by four companies to AAP a clear case of "round-tripping of black money".

The AAP leader said has been facing a "vicious attack" from the BJP leaders for past few months and the attack has increased as the ruling party at the Centre has realised that it was facing a defeat in the February 7 polls.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me a Naxal? He says I should be sent to the jungle. Am I a Naxal? BJP's Nupur Sharma called me a monkey? Nirmala Sitharaman called me a thief, Kiran Bedi called me toxic. They don't have the courage...I have done no wrong. Even my worst enemies say that Kejriwal is honest," he said.

The AAP today wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India demanding an SC-monitored SIT probe. It also offered to face derecognition and accept any punishment if the SIT probe found anything incriminating against it.

"We have already forewarned about this mud-slinging. It happened during Lok Sabha polls too. BJP has lost ground, and therefore it is throwing mud at us," he said.

The former Delhi chief minister also challenged BJP's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi to come on a show and "look at me in the eye and then tell me that I was dishonest."

Attacking BJP, he said there are people in the party, who want to "keep women without jobs and education". "One of their leaders say, women should bear four children, others say don't wear jeans, don't buy cell phone," he said.

PTI