NEW DELHI: The Opposition in the city seems to be relieved as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walks out from Tihar on bail. The Congress believes that the development would energise the campaign.
“We hope that the Prime Minister gets enough time after June 4, when he becomes the former Prime Minister, to introspect sitting in Sabarmati Ashram at the kind of politics he has indulged into. We hope the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren also gets justice,” Congress media department head Pawan Khera said.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) President Devender Yadav also hailed the decision to grant bail to Kejriwal. The party had been arguing that Kejriwal’s arrest was an attempt to keep him out of the Lok Sabha campaign.
The Congress party was in power at the Centre and in states for several decades, and also in the Opposition, but the party had always played a constructive role, never a vindictive one, Yadav said.
“During the Congress rule, the government never put Opposition CMs and leaders in jail. In 10 years, the country has been witnessing vindictive politics under the BJP government which misused the probe agencies to harass the opposition,” Yadav said.
“It is a welcome step, as the BJP had put him in jail during the Lok Sabha elections to prevent him from canvassing for his AAP and INDIA Alliance candidates,” he added. “We have been saying that the BJP and its leaders have caged the establishments of democracy. Because of this, the sitting CMs were sent to jail,” he said.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 for campaigning in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. He said during the Congress’ rule, its government never put the opposition chief ministers and leaders in the jail, as the party always treated the opposition leaders with respect and consideration.
Congress’ candidate from Northeast Delhi constituency Kanhaiya Kumar welcomed the Supreme Court decision saying this is a big order to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens.
Kumar wrote on X in Hindi that the INDIA bloc’s war for justice continues.
“I welcome the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister @ArvindKejriwal. This is a big decision to protect the constitutional rights of citizens. INDIA alliance’s war for justice continues, the real victory will be achieved on June 4 by uprooting this anti-constitutional government,” Kumar mentioned in his post.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal, arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.
