NEW DELHI: Under attack over the arrest of former Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar on charges of forging his degrees, the Aam Aadmi Party today said it will "highlight" the alleged "discrepancies" in educational qualification of Union ministers Smriti Irani and Ram Shanker Katheria.
The party's latest salvo came on a day it distanced itself from Tomar saying Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was "upset" with him, and referred his case to the party's internal Lokpal. He may face expulsion, sources said.
"We have referred the case of Tomar to the party's internal lokpal. But we would also like to see the Delhi Police Commissioner probing the charges of false educational qualification against Union ministers Smriti Irani and Ram Shankar Katheria considering police's new found energy," senior leader Sanjay Singh said.
"There should not be different yardsticks to judge these issues. We will take up the issue of alleged academic discrepancies of Irani and Katheria," he said. However, the party refused to answer a query on whether it was withdrawing Tomar's legal aide.
A senior party leader said it will "target" both Irani and Katheria as well as a number of BJP leaders facing criminal charges.
In a veiled threat to BJP, Singh said, "This is just the beginning".
"Prime Minister Modi had spoken about clean politics in his first speech in Parliament. But 30 per cent in the Council of Ministers have serious allegations against them," he said. Where are the fast track courts on crimes against women, he asked.
Justifying the delay in sending Tomar's case to the internal ombudsman, Singh said that initially the party could not establish the "RTI's veracity" given to Kejriwal by Tomar to prove his innocence.
The party "welcomed" the complaints that have surfaced against other leaders such as Karol Bagh (Central) MLA Vishesh Ravi and Delhi Cantt MLA Surender Singh.