New Delhi top minister blames Indian PM after office raid

NEW DELHI, Tuesday

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused his arch-rival Narendra Modi of waging a political vendetta, branding the Indian premier a psychopath after federal investigators raided his headquarters.

The firebrand chief minister, who founded and leads the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi party, is a bitter opponent of Modi and the pair have clashed repeatedly in recent months.

A spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) confirmed that officers sealed off several offices in the Delhi secretariat where Kejriwal is based, although officials denied the move was politically motivated.

Kejriwal said his office was among the rooms raided though CBI denied it.

News of the raid was broken by Kejriwal himself on Twitter. He posted, “CBI raids my office” and then accused Modi of being “a coward and a psychopath who could not handle me politically”.

OFFICE STAFF

India television cited sources in the bureau as saying the raid targeted Kejriwal’s principal secretary Rajendra Kumar.

A spokesman for the bureau gave few details but insisted that Kejriwal’s own office had not been targeted.

“We are investigating a case against a staffer from the chief minister’s office,” spokesman RK Gaur said.

“Our team didn’t raid the chief minister’s office but restricted entry to certain areas.”

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The issue triggered chaos in parliament where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley - one of Modi’s closest allies - told protesting members repeatedly that the raid had nothing to do with Arvind Kejriwal and ridiculed the idea that it was politically motivated.

“There is a corruption case complaint with the CBI against a person attached to the office of the chief minister,” he told the upper house of parliament, his voice nearly drowned out by opponents.

“The search is in relation to a case for an offence committed in his capacity before he joined the office of Mr Kejriwal,” he said, adding that 14 other places had been searched.

Kejriwal immediately retorted on Twitter, saying Jaitley lied in parliament.

2014 ELECTIONS

Kejriwal and Modi stood against each other in last year’s general elections in the Varanasi Constituency.

Kejriwal lost but then oversaw a dramatic landslide victory over Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party in polls in January for the Delhi state assembly.

The two men have since clashed, with Kejriwal accusing the federal government of blocking a series of initiatives, including a push to clean up the Indian capital’s polluted skies.

Kejriwal, an ex-tax inspector and self-styled revolutionary, has been pushing to be given control of Delhi police in line with other state administrations but his calls have been rebuffed by the PM.

There was no immediate reaction from Modi, who is himself usually a prolific Twitter user.

BITTER RIVALS

Mohan Guruswamy, head of New Delhi’s Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank, said he was not surprised by the raid given the history of tensions between the two men.

“It is a well known fact Kejriwal is opposed to Modi. Kejriwal has opposed his brand of politics, economic policy and finds him the only political competitor in the present political system,” Guruswamy told AFP.

“He went to contest the Varanasi seat against Modi to make a point that he is no less than Modi.”

Although Kejriwal’s party had a disappointing showing in the May 2014 parliamentary elections, the victory in Delhi bolstered its hopes of making major inroads elsewhere, especially as the main national opposition Congress party is in the electoral doldrums.

Aam Aadmi in particular has high hopes for state elections in Punjab which are due early next year.

All four of the seats that the party won in the legislative elections are in Punjab.