AAP suffers huge blow as minister resigns after raising corruption allegations; SC refuses urgent hearing of Kejriwal's plea

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied to hear Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest and the trial court proceedings in the excise policy scam case. As a further blow to the AAP, Delhi Minister Raaj Kumar Anand on Wednesday resigned from his minister post. He also resigned from the party. Raaj Kumar Anand announced his resignation after alleging corruption in the party. Raaj Kumar was the Labor, Social Welfare and Backward Development Minister of Delhi.

The INDIA front was also on the defensive as one member of the Delhi cabinet turned against the AAP government. With Kejriwal in jail, the front has been campaigning by projecting him as a martyr. The other day, the Delhi High Court had rejected Kejriwal's bail plea with sharp criticism. The entire INDIA alliance suffered a blow when Raaj Kumar Anand said yesterday that the party had become the main centre of corruption

At the same time, both the Aam Aadmi Party and the INDIA Front alleged that Raaj Kumar Anand submitted his resignation after he was targeted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had conducted an inspection at Anand's house in November 2023 in the case of customs evasion of more than seven crore rupees.

Raaj Kumar is the MLA from Patel Nagar. He is the first minister to resign from the Aam Aadmi Party.

"There are no Dalits, women or people from backward classes among the 10 Rajya Sabha MPs of the party. There are no Dalit MLAs and councillors. It is difficult for me to stay in such a party. I will not join any other party," Raaj Kumar Anand said.

Will look into matter: CJI

Earlier on Wednesday, Kejriwal's lawyer Abhishek Singhvii raised the matter of Kejriwal's plea before the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and sought an urgent hearing. However, the CJI refused to hear the matter urgently and stated that the court would see and look into the matter. As the apex court has holidays on Thursday and Friday, the earliest that Kejriwal's lawyers could expect the listing of his petition for a hearing is on Monday.

The other day, the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's petition stating that there was strong evidence to show that Kejriwal was involved in the conspiracy. In this situation, jurists believe that there is little possibility of the Supreme Court holding a special sitting on Monday to consider the petition.