New Delhi

Hitting back at Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal for making “false and defamatory” statements against him, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is slapping criminal and civil defamation cases against him and five other AAP leaders in courts of India’s national capital Delhi on Monday.

Jaitley told PTI tonight that he has instructed legal team in his personal capacity to institute civil defamation cases in the Delhi High Court and criminal defamation cases in the Patiala House courts against Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee.

He accused them of issuing false and defamatory statements against him and his family members.

Jaitley’s action comes in the backdrop of attacks on him by Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders over alleged irregularities and financial bunglings in Delhi’s cricket body, Delhi and District Cricket Association, of which he was the president for about 13 years till 2013.

Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders have publicly been making allegations against Jaitley with regard to the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) affairs although some of the allegations have gone beyond that.

Jaitley has also rubbished allegations against his family members, saying, “I have no family member who has even one paise interest in any form of business. Why should my family be part of a sports management business?

Jaitley has chosen not to give any legal notice to Kejriwal and other AAP leaders asking them to apologise or face defamation cases. Instead, the cases will be filed straightaway in the courts.

“Proud of Jaitley”s honesty, integrity and credibility”

New Delhi

BJP today said it was proud of the “honesty, integrity and credibility” of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley even as the senior leader came under attack over alleged corruption in Delhi cricket body, DDCA, when he headed it.

“We are proud of the impeccable qualities of honesty, integrity and credibility of Arun Jaitley. The transparency and credibility with which he has lived his public life all these years and his commitment to probity is too well known,” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, rejecting charges against him.

On a day BJP MP Kirti Azad also raked up the alleged corruption in DDCA without naming Jaitley, Prasad said any “personal prejudices ought not to play any role in such matters” but refrained from making a reference to the Darbangha MP.

He also pooh-poohed the AAP government’s announcement of the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry, saying it does not come under its jurisdiction.

He said DDCA has also formed a committee to look into the allegations levelled by others, including AAP, and the organisation will address them.

Prasad, however, noted that a Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe undertaken by the Congress-led UPA government got “nothing at all” anything against Jaitley.

Taking a dig at AAP, he said, “People who are politicising this, I want to ask these people who used to promise to fight against corruption before as to why they are trying to protect officials who are facing corruption charges.” PTI