BJP accuses Arvind Kejriwal of delaying court proceedings

NEW DELHI: BJP today hit out at Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly seeking to delay the court process in the defamation case filed against him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying the Delhi Chief Minister should be prepared to go to jail for making "false and baseless" charges.

Accusing him of being a "lying machine", BJP slammed him for his "double standards", contending while he earlier used to seek fast track courts for speedy justice, he now wanted to delay the judicial process by asking courts to quash cases.

"Arvind Kejriwal is a lying machine who has always spoken lies and falsehood. Now he is caught in his own web and should be ready to go to jail for making such false and baseless charges against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

Attacking the AAP leader, he said "Earlier he was talking of setting up fast-track courts, now he and other AAP leaders are seeking cancellation of cases against them and are trying to delay the court proceedings."

The BJP leader said Kejriwal's "lies will be exposed soon" and accused him of hatching a conspiracy to deflect the attention from his own "failures" and protect "corrupt officers".

"He should either pay the damages for defamation or be prepared to go to jail," he said, adding the AAP leaders have been doing politics by "spreading falsehood".

The Delhi Chief Minister had claimed that the civil defamation suit filed against him and five other AAP leaders by Jaitley in DDCA row was "a classic instance of political vendetta" with a view to "harassing" them and curbing their right to free speech.

In Delhi High Court, AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai sought rejection of a defamation suit filed against him by Jaitley, which was dismissed by the court.

The suit was filed against Kejriwal and others, including Bajpai, by Jaitley in the backdrop of attacks on him over alleged irregularities and financial bunglings in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) of which he was the President between 1999 and 2013.