Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's chief minister and leader of the governing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is set to be questioned by India's financial crimes agency.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating an alleged fraud case related to a now-scrapped liquor sale policy in the state.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have been arrested in the case. AAP has denied the allegations against its leaders and accused the federal government of political vendetta. But India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the AAP of indulging in corrupt practices for political gains.
Questions of corruption are a sensitive matter for the Aam Aadmi Party, which emerged more than 10 years ago from a major movement against corruption, with Mr Kejriwal described as an “anti-corruption crusader”.
Hours before his questioning on Thursday, Mr Kejriwal called the ED summons “illegal and politically motivated”, ANI news agency reported.
“The notice was sent at the behest of the BJP. Notice was sent to ensure that I am unable to go for election campaigning in four states,” he said and asked the ED to “withdraw the notice immediately”.
Security has been ramped up outside the ED office in the capital as well as at Rajghat, the memorial of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, where Mr Kejriwal is expected to pay a visit before going to ED office.
India's top investigation agency – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – and the ED allege that there were irregularities in the framing and implementation of the liquor policy. The policy was implemented by the AAP government in 2021 and was withdrawn less than a year later.
Investigators allege that it favoured certain liquor dealers and that illicit gains were used by the AAP to fund a poll campaign – allegations that the AAP has strongly denied.
In April, Mr Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI for nine hours in connection with the case. At the time, he had said that the entire case was “fabricated” and built to “bring down” his party.
The AAP has been trying to position itself as a key opposition force to the BJP – apart from being in power in Delhi and Punjab, it contested elections in Goa this year and plans to do so in three more states.
The CBI and the ED report to the federal government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many opposition leaders, including Mr Kejriwal, have accused the BJP of using federal agencies to target them in the run up to the general elections in 2024, an allegation the governing party denies.
Reports say AAP has been planning future steps should Mr Kejriwal be arrested. “It would be decided by senior party leaders. But if the whole party is in jail, then the government and the party would run from jail,” AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj told the media on Wednesday.
In May, the ED had arrested Delhi's former health minister Satyendra Jain in a money laundering case. He is out on bail on health grounds.
Mr Sisodia, the state's former deputy chief minister, was arrested in February in the liquor policy case, while party MP Sanjay Singh was arrested in the same case last month. They remain in jail as their bail pleas have been rejected by courts.
On Thursday, hours before Mr Kejriwal was to be questioned, the ED searched Delhi Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand's house and nine other places linked to him in a separate money laundering case.
— CutC by bbc.com
