Kejriwal already got political response from people BJP on AAP leader's acquittal in liquor 'scam'

    New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) The BJP said on Friday that though a court has acquitted AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for "lack of evidence" in a case involving the Delhi excise policy, the people of the national capital have already given him a "political response on political grounds" and the probe agency will now decide its next course of action based on technical grounds.
    Asked about the court acquitting Kejriwal, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also said it is a "technical matter" and the party will come up with a "structured response" on the court's judgment, after studying it.
    A Delhi court on Friday discharged former chief minister Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the politically-charged liquor-policy case, pulling the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) up by saying that it had found no "overarching conspiracy or criminal intent" in the policy.
    Among the 21 people given a clean chit in the case is Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha.
    Coming down heavily on the CBI, special judge Jitendra Singh refused to take cognisance of the federal agency's chargesheet against them. It also observed that the case did not withstand judicial scrutiny, especially when the CBI sought to construct a narrative of conspiracy on mere conjectures.
    Asked about the acquittal of Kejriwal and the others in the case, Trivedi said, "The lower court has acquitted them for lack of evidence. It is a technical matter."
    "The people of Delhi have given him (Kejriwal) a political response on political grounds. The agency concerned will decide its next course of action on technical grounds," the Rajya Sabha MP told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.
    He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will come up with a "structured response" on the issue after studying the court verdict in depth.
    "This is also true that hundreds of mobile phones and SIM cards, evidence in the case, were destroyed. Now, why were those destroyed and how that led to the lack of evidence in the case, the CBI will look into such technical issues and decide its next course of action," Trivedi said.
    "It is also worth considering that if there was no evidence at all, how did the court allow the charges to be framed?" he asked, adding, "All the charges were baseless, yet those were framed. So there are certain technical issues and after studying the judgment in depth, the party will give a structured response."
    An emotional Kejriwal asserted on Friday that the corruption case against him was the "biggest political conspiracy" in the history of independent India.
    Just as the court verdict came, the three-time former Delhi chief minister broke down before reporters.
    "The court has proved that Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and the AAP are 'kattar imandar' (honest)," he said.
    Kejriwal claimed that the "conspiracy" of the excise case was hatched to finish off the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
    It was entirely a fake case, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah being behind its fabrication, the AAP supremo alleged.
    The CBI will challenge the discharge of Kejriwal and Sisodia in the liquor-policy case in the high court "immediately", officials said.
    Asked about the charges levelled by Kejriwal against Modi and Shah, Trivedi accused the AAP national convenor of making "political" allegations.
    "He (Kejriwal) is one of the rare persons in Indian political history. It has been 75 years since the BJP came into being from the Jan Sangh, we never joined hands with the Congress even for a day. On the contrary, he joined hands with the Congress within 75 days (of the AAP being formed)," he said, in an apparent reference to the party forming its government in Delhi for the first time in an alliance with the Congress in 2013.
    On the Congress describing the development as the BJP's "script" ahead of the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Punjab, Trivedi hit back at the main opposition party and asked it whether it is "sad, happy or terrified" with the acquittal of Kejriwal and others in the case.
    "It was the Congress that had first levelled the allegations (against the previous AAP government in Delhi). I think (Congress leader) Ajay Maken had held the first press conference on the liquor scam," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)