War erupts over Arvind Kejriwal's Rs 3.4 crore lawyer fees

New Delhi: Ahead of the crucial civic polls in the national capital, a bitter turf war erupted between the BJP and AAP over the payment of Rs 3.42 crore to the noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani related to a defamation case against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP on Tuesday hit out at the AAP government by claiming that its move to clear bills related to a defamation case against Mr Kejriwal was a “dacoity and loot” of the people’s money and said it would not let this happen. The Delhi CM, however, maintained a defiant stance saying that finance minister Arun Jaitley had filed a defamation suit against him as he had exposed him in the Delhi District Cricket Association scam and the public should decide who should pay for the case.

Mr Javadekar alleged that Mr Kejriwal was taken to court by finance minister Arun Jaitley for his “personal crime” and the Delhi government’s decision to foot the bill of the AAP leader’s lawyer is against the law and rules of the government. “It’s illegal and immoral. Why should the people of Delhi pay for your (Mr Kejriwal) sins? This is a dacoity and loot of their money and is completely unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Javadekar said Mr Jaitley had paid Rs 10 lakh stamp duty from his pocket and has been paying the bills of his lawyers as well. He alleged that Mr Kejriwal’s politics is based on defaming others and people should not pay for his “sins”.

The Delhi government has reportedly made a proposal to pay a bill of close to Rs 4 crore sought by Mr Kejriwal’s lawyer but lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal has sought solicitor general Ranjit Kumar’s advice in the matter.

Mr Javadekar said Mr Kejriwal is facing at least seven cases of defamation and wondered if the city government would pay over Rs 100 crore when he is asked to pay this sum of money.

He accused the AAP of first denying such a proposal and said it is now claiming that the government wants to pay it as the case is against the chief minister. “The fact is the case is not against a chief minister but an individual. His actions have nothing to do with the government. He has tried to defame Mr Jaitley and his family members and will have to pay for it,” he said.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju criticised the Delhi government’s move saying that no chief minister has ever burdened the exchequer to fight his own case.

“I just can’t recall any other chief minister who has ever burdened the exchequer to save himself or promote himself,” he said, reacting to the city government’s move to pay around Rs 3 crore to top lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

Mr Rijiju said the defamation case was slapped against Mr Kejriwal for speaking against finance minister Arun Jaitley. “Whatever he had said about Jaitleyji was his own statement. So, why should the people of Delhi pay? Did the people of Delhi asked him to fight the case. Then why should people of Delhi pay now?” he said. Later, in a tweet, Mr Rijiju said, “Public money for defending Mr Kejriwalji !! Already too much money is being used to advertise him (sic)”.

Former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India, which is making its debut in the civic polls said that it is yet another case of abuse of taxpayer’s money by Mr Kejriwal to pay money to Mr Jethmalani. Using low-level language and profanity has become a major part of Mr Kejriwal’s politics. However, when he has to face consequences for his actions, he wants the general public to pay for them.

Condemning Mr Kejriwal’s move, Swaraj India’s national spokesperson Anupam said, “Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal had blown hundreds of millions of public funds on his personal promotion. The recent CAG report had exposed how the public money was being spent on Mr Kejriwal’s advancements. The AAP government was also slapped Rs 97 crore penalty for defying the SC’s guidelines. The public will teach a proper lesson to not only BJP, which is harassing people for last ten years but AAP too.”