‘Kailash Gahlot was facing ED, IT probe’, says AAP; Kejriwal ducks question on resignation- The Week

Kailash Gahlot did not have any choice and he was being probed by Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax for months, said Aam Aadmi Party leader Durgesh Pathak on the former Delhi minister’s resignation. Pathak made the response when AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal refused to answer and passed the microphone to him.

Former Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot resigned on Sunday from AAP, charging the party’s political ambitions have overtaken the commitment towards the people. While Gahlot resigned, former Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Anil Jha joined AAP in the presence of Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday. Addressing presspersons, Kejriwal welcomed Jha to the party and said he is considered one of the biggest leaders of Purvanchal.

However, when Kejriwal was asked about Gahlot’s resignation, he refused to answer and handed over the microphone to senior party leader Durgesh Pathak. Responding to the question, Pathak said, “Kailash Gehlot was being questioned and raided by ED and Income Tax for months. So he did not have a choice. But this makes it clear that the BJP has lost the Delhi election. They have no issue, they are fighting on the basis of ED, CBI and Income Tax and we are fighting on people’s issues,” NDTV reported.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of threatening opposition leaders with probe by central agencies.“Kailash Gahlot has been raided by the ED, Income Tax many times. He was part of the government for five years, and the BJP was continuously conspiring against him, he was left with no other option but to go with the BJP,” Singh told PTI.

Singh dismissed Gahlot’s allegations mentioned in his resignation as mere repetition of BJP’s accusations. “He is now repeating what BJP says, it is the conspiracy of the BJP,” Singh said.

AAP’s national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said Gahlot decided to resign and join the BJP to escape jail. “There were a lot of cases of ED and CBI on Kailash Gahlot. He chose to join BJP rather than struggling in jails,” Kakkar said.

Kailash Gahlot resigned from primary membership of the party on Sunday and said the AAP’s “political ambitions have overtaken the commitment towards the people”. Gahlot said AAP faced “grave challenges from within”. Gahlot charged, “Real progress for Delhi cannot happen if the Delhi Government spends the majority of its time fighting with the Centre.”

Gahlot also said the party there are many embarrassing and awkward controversies like ‘Sheeshmahal’ “which are now making everyone doubt whether we still believe in being the Aam Aadmi”.