[New Delhi]PM Batting For Jaitely And High Court Questions Kejriwal :DDCA Episode this Development comes in the backdrop of attacks on Jaitely by CM Kejriwal and other AAP leaders over alleged irregularities and financial bunglings in Delhi’s cricket body, Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), of which Jaitely was the president for about 13 years till 2013.
The Delhi High Court today sought response of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders on a civil defamation suit filed against them by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Joint Registrar (JR) Kovai Venugopal issued notice to Kejriwal and other AAP leaders — Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, SanjaySingh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai — on the suit by Jaitley seeking Rs 10 crore in damages for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family members.
The JR said”Issue notice to the defendants (AAP leaders). Written statements by the defandants be filed within three weeks.
Thereafter, in two weeks’ time, the plaintiff (Jaitley) will file replication,” .
The court also asked AAP convenor Kejriwal and other leaders of his party to file original documents related to the allegations levelled in the suit against them in one week.
The JR fixed the matter for February 5, 2016 for admission/denial of documents.
While Kejriwal and Vishwas were not present in the high court, four of the AAP leaders — Ashutosh, Sanjay, Raghav and Deepak, attended the proceedings.
Jaitley has also filed a criminal defamation complaint before a trial court against Kejriwal and the five other AAP leaders for making false allegations about financial irregularities in DDCA.
In a packed courtroom at the Patiala House courts complex yesterday, Jaitley, who was accompanied by M Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan and J P Nadda, had alleged that AAP leaders have made completely baseless and defamatory allegations.
PM Narendra Modi Today backed His FM Arun Jaitley
In a strong show of support for Arun Jaitley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the Finance Minister will come through “with flying colours” against charges of corruption levelled against him by the opposition in a same way L K Advani did in the Hawala case.
Batting for Jaitley, accused by Congress and AAP of financial irregularities in Delhi cricket body when he headed it, Modi hit out at Congress at BJP’s parliamentary party meeting for levelling “wrong and manufactured” allegations to “defame” the government.
At the parliamentary party, no reference was made to similar charges made by BJP MP Kirti Azad, who was not present in the meeting today.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu quoted Modi as having said that BJP leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje had similarly faced such “wrong” charges from Congress earlier.
“The Prime Minister gave the example of L K Advani. The government at that time tried to implicate him in the Hawala case.Advani came through with flying colours and the strategy of Congress boomeranged. Same thing is going to happen regarding allegations against Jaitley,Congress is inventing issue to defame the government,”
Advani and a number of other leaders were investigated by CBI during the Congress government headed by P V Narasimha Rao.
Advani had resigned from Lok Sabha in 1996 after allegations were levelled against him in the hawala case. The case, however, later collapsed due to lack of evidence.
BJP has rallied around Jaitley as Congress and AAP have tried to corner him over the issue and demanded his resignation. Party chief Amit Shah issued a strong statement in his support yesterday.
Naidu said
Aiming to take the battle to the opposition, BJP MPs of the Lok Sabha will be spending one night in each assembly constituency in their seat to spread awareness about the “good work” being done by the Modi government and the opposition’s campaign to “defame” it. This will be done in January,
The court of the Chief Metroplitan Magistrate then took cognisance of the complaint and posted the case for January 5 when Jaitley will record his testimony.