Jaitley files defamation suit against Kejriwal, targets Cong in LS -Governance Now

Jaitley files defamation suit against Kejriwal, targets Cong in LS

Commission headed by former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium to probe the DDCA functioning

GN Bureau | December 21, 2015

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley today filed defamation suits against Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for accusing him of corruption in Delhi's cricket body DDCA (Delhi and District Cricket Association). The minister has not sued his own party parliamentarian Kirti Azad, who dared him in tweets.

Jaitley has sought Rs 10 crore as damages from Kejriwal and other AAP leaders - Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee - for their alleged defamatory remarks.

The AAP has alleged massive financial irregularities in the DDCA and has formed a commission to be headed by former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium to probe the functioning of the cricket body. Jaitley headed the DDCA for 13 years till 2013.

AAP is also prepping to file a First Information Report or police complaint against Jaitley alleging forgery, corruption and loot of public money in the DDCA. The DDCA has admitted that there were irregularities, but has absolved Jaitley of any involvement.

The controversy came to a head after a CBI raid on Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar last week. AAP alleges that the CBI officers carried out the raid to search for DDCA files to help the finance minister.

Meanwhile, rejecting the charges against as "baseless and devoid of truth",Jaitley today claimed the opposition Congress had spent much more than he did in renovating a stadium in Delhi.

"In Rs 114 crore, a stadium with a capacity of 42,000 was made. When Congress was in power, the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium was renovated for Rs 900 crore," Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha amid loud Congress protest.

"Please sit down, the facts will be extremely inconvenient," he said during his three-minute statement, forcing the Congress MPs to walk out of the Lok Sabha.

Kirti Azad told the house the Congress should stop disrupting proceedings, and instead "demand a time-bound SIT-monitored probe" into the DDCA row.

The BJP has strongly supported Jaitley. "Jaitley has impeccable character, honesty and high standards in public life," said union minister Venkaiah Naidu in the lok sabha.

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