Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “political conspiracy” after his name figured in an FIR registered over alleged irregularities in recruitments at the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

Kejriwal, who resumed work this week after undergoing a surgical procedure, perceived this new development as part of a conspiracy to destabilise his government.

Amanatullah held

While Kejriwal battled against his name being dragged into a corruption case, allegedly at the behest of the BJP and the PM, another Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan was arrested by the Delhi police and sent to a day’s judicial custody for alleged sexual harassment.

Khan is the 19th AAP MLA to be arrested on charges ranging from rioting, sexual harassment and corruption. Additionally, 21 AAP MLAs face the prospect of being disqualified for accepting offices of profit. Kejriwal has repeatedly said the AAP is being “squeezed and harassed” by Modi and the BJP and State institutions are being used to target the party politically because “Modi ji cannot digest his defeat in Delhi”. The AAP had swept the Delhi polls in February, 2015, winning 67 of the Capital’s 70 Assembly seats.

Assembly to meet

After his own name figured in an FIR, Kejriwal said a special session of the Delhi Assembly would soon be convened to discuss and probe why he was being dragged into a case of alleged corruption and irregularities in recruitment.

“I don’t know why my name is in the FIR. What is my role in it? The entire FIR does not mention even once what I have done,” said Kejriwal, asserting that the move is “political” in nature. He said the Prime Minister is behind this conspiracy.

“Without the Prime Minister’s approval and consent, a Chief Minister’s name cannot be mentioned in an FIR,” said Kejriwal at a press conference.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has asserted that the entire case is “false and malicious”. The case was registered against the DCW’s chief Swati Maliwal on a complaint by her predecessor Barkha Shukla Singh, who has alleged that several AAP supporters have been given plum posts in the DCW without having the prerequisite qualifications.

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