Staring at defeat in 2024 LS polls, ED raids last desperate attempt of 'rattled' BJP: Kejriwal

Kejriwal told reporters that ED, CBI, I-T and police – all the agencies will become active as the elections come closer. 'Yesterday, it was journalists and today, it is Sanjay Singh. Many such raids will happen. But there is no need to be scared', he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday termed the ED raids at AAP MP Sanjay Singh's residence the 'last desperate attempt' of a party that is staring at defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Many such raids will take place but there is nothing to be scared of, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday morning raided Singh's home in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy and later arrested him.

"For the last one year, we have been seeing that there is a cacophony surrounding an alleged 'liquor scam.' To date there hasn't been any recovery of money, more than a thousand such raids have been conducted and many people have been arrested. They have been framing numerous accusations on us from time to time. Earlier they accused us of 'classroom scams' in schools, scams in the purchase of buses, construction of roads, water and electricity supply," Kejriwal said earlier in the day.

Claiming that thousands of raids have been carried out against but not a single penny has been recovered till date, he asserted nothing will be found at Singh's house.

"The BJP is rattled. They believe that they're going to face massive defeat in the national elections of 2024. These are the last desperate attempts of a losing party. Yesterday it happened with many journalists, now it's happening with Sanjay Singh, and as elections come closer it'll happen to many," he claimed.

The chief minister said such raids will only increase as the election nears.

"ED, CBI, I-T and police - all the agencies will become active as the elections come closer. Many such raids will happen. But there is no need to be scared," he added.

Delhi Cabinet minister Gopal Rai echoed similar views and claimed the panic of the impending defeat in the Lok Sabha polls was the reason behind the raids.

"The way journalists were targeted on October 3 also indicates an attempt to silence any voice against those in power, which I believe is against democracy. The BJP should have trust in the people. Misusing agencies to silence voices won't win elections, and history states this," he said.

Rai's cabinet colleague Atishi asserted that the BJP is afraid of the AAP.

"I can confidently say that just like in the 15-month investigation, no evidence of corruption will be found at Sanjay Singh's house, village, or office, even if they raid it ten times," she said.

Later in the day, addressing a press conference, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said this is an imaginary scam that has been under scrutiny for the past 15 months.

"The ED and CBI have conducted at least a thousand raids, but not a single rupee of corruption has been found. It is now being said that Sanjay Singh is also involved in this imaginary scam, but nothing will be found at his place either. Their sources will certainly say that they have found a lot, but when they go to court, they will claim they found nothing," he said.

He said that Singh is one of the formidable voices in the opposition and he has been questioning the Centre over a range of issues.

"The Centre is trying to suppress his voice... BJP's Centre government is going. They are taking desperate steps in the last moment to salvage their situation. We strongly condemn such raids and hope that elections happen quickly and people say Bye Bye to BJP," Bharadwaj said.

AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar called the raids 'vendetta' politics.

This is the most significant evidence that this is low-level politics. It is a politics of revenge, an attempt to discredit someone. In the past 15 months, many people have been harassed in jails, but nothing has been found. This proves that it is a politics of vendetta," she stressed.