Quit, AAP tells Jaitley

The AAP on Wednesday asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to resign, saying the CBI raided the Delhi Secretariat to derail a probe into the affairs of Delhi's cricket club, which he once headed.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh told the media that the allegations of corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) cannot be probed as long as Jaitley remains in the cabinet.

Jaitley is the former chairman of the DDCA, which has controlled the affairs of cricket in the Indian capital. Ex-cricketers have hurled major corruption charges at its office bearers, Jaitley included.

"He (Jaitley) should resign from the government," Singh told the media here.

He said the searches by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office were aimed at scuttling a probe by the Delhi government into the DDCA affairs.

"We are not afraid of such cowardly acts and false threats. This voice against corruption is not going to be stopped. Arvind Kejriwal is committed to take action against corruption in DDCA," Singh asserted.

The CBI has denied searching Kejriwal's office, and said it was only investigating corruption charges against the chief minister's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar.

Singh said the AAP would make public the details of what he claimed were financial wrongdoings in the DDCA.

Singh said BJP MP Kirti Azad on August 5, 2014, had raised in parliament the matter of corruption prevailing in the DDCA.

The union home ministry had then asked the sports ministry to look into the matter and take action.

Showing a copy of a letter, Singh said: " The union sports ministry on July 27, 2015, wrote this letter to the chief secretary of the Delhi government asking him to probe the corruption in the DDCA."

He added that the Delhi government had then formed a committee to investigate the issue.

"On the basis of the report of a committee, Kejriwal was about to take strict action in connection with the corruption in the DDCA. The CBI raid was an action to scuttle the probe," Singh said. - IANS