Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has claimed that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in the state were scared following the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and others in the Delhi excise policy case. He was addressing party workers at Velim in South Goa Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy of his government. He is accused of being directly involved in a conspiracy related to the formulation of the excise policy, favouring certain individuals.
"Their Delhi chief minister (Kejriwal) is in jail. Do you know why he was jailed? Because he is involved in the excise scam," Sawant said. He alleged that the AAP made money from the excise scam and was not sure what to do with it. "They got some money in Goa (in the 2022 assembly elections) and that is why they won 'matka' (two seats)," he said. The AAP won two seats in Goa in the last assembly election.
"The AAP leaders are afraid after arrests in the Delhi excise scam, and they are tracking my activities," Sawant claimed. The Congress has disappeared from Goa, while AAP leaders are afraid, he said, adding that people will not bother about the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP). "The only party which is left now is BJP," he said.
The ED last week questioned AAP's Goa unit president Amit Palekar and three others in a case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy case, in which Kejriwal and some other leaders of the party have been arrested. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Pallavi Dempo as its candidate from the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency.
