NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will take legal opinion on the Enforcement Directorate’s fresh summons to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after he returns from his Vipassana, senior party leader Gopal Rai said on Saturday.
After Kejriwal skipped the second summons on Thursday, the ED on Friday again issued a notice to Kejriwal for questioning on January 3 in its Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering investigation. Rai, who is the environment minister and AAP’s Delhi state convener, told PTI-Video on the sidelines of a press conference that “currently, the chief minister is undertaking a Vipassana”.
“There is no communication with him. Once he returns, we will take a legal opinion, and then decide about it,” he said.
On the summons, the AAP in a statement on Friday had said it is just political vendetta to counter the growing popularity of the party across the country.
This is the third notice to Kejriwal, who is the AAP’s national convenor, after he refused to appear before the federal agency on two earlier summonses for November 2 and December 21. The Delhi chief minister is currently undertaking a 10-day Vipassana meditation course.
Skipping the second summons, Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that these were issued at the behest of political rivals that wished to silence the voice of the opposition in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Delhi chief minister left for an undisclosed location for his Vipassana course on Wednesday. He had sent his reply to the ED on Wednesday. In April, the Delhi chief minister was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) He appeared before the agency and was quizzed for several hours by the officers.
