Congress’s Kejriwal dilemma deepens as it balances ties with AAP – friends in Delhi, foes in Punjab

Between its show of solidarity with the family of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and statements by leaders of its Punjab unitwelcoming the arrest, the Congress is walking a tightrope in its relationship with INDIA bloc ally, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

While both the parties did not stitch an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls for the 13 seats in Punjab in view of their state units’ opposition to it there, they have done so in Delhi with the AAP contesting on four and the Congress on three of the national capital’s seven Lok Sabha seats.

Interestingly, Kejriwal’s arrest is based on a batch of complaints alleging a “multi-crore scam” in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, one of which was filed with the Delhi Police in June 2022 by former Delhi Congress president Chaudhary Anil Kumar.

According to sources, these complaints, including the one lodged by Kumar, were the foundation on which the alleged liquor scam case was built, with the Delhi Vigilance Department report referred to the CBI by L-G V K Saxena, that led to a case of alleged money laundering as registered by the ED.

Official sources have confirmed that another complaint, with allegations of “sedition”, has also been under investigation “at various levels”.This was filed with L-G Saxena in March 2023 by former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit and his late mother and ex-CM Sheila Dikshit’s Cabinet colleagues Mangat Ram Singhal and Kiran Walia. It demanded that Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, among others, be booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for alleged snooping by the now-defunct “Feedback Unit” of the Delhi government.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in the liquor policy