DDCA row: Jaitley files defamation suit against Kejriwal, 5 AAP leaders

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley filed a ₹10-crore defamation suit against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other Aam Aadmi Party leaders on a day the row over alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) reached Parliament.

While the Congress demanded Jaitley’s resignation as well as a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe, BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad, who has been flagging the issue since 2009, sought a time-bound CBI investigation.

‘Gross irregularities’ Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader KC Venugopal spoke about “gross irregularities” in DDCA when Jaitley was its head, citing a video CD made public by Azad at a press conference here on Sunday. In the Rajya Sabha, too, Congress members raised the issue and demanded Jaitley’s resignation. The party MPs asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Jaitley and constitute a JPC to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, the BJP came out strongly in support of Jaitley with party president Amit Shah terming all the allegations levelled by the AAP against the Finance Minister as “baseless and far from truth” and asserting that the BJP stood with him and would not allow any “conspiracy” to defame him to succeed.

Refutes allegations Jaitley, who was present in the Lok Sabha, refuted all allegations.

He called them “baseless and wrong” and gave out details of the costs incurred in the construction of the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. The Finance Minister said public sector company EPIL was given the contract, through a tender process, for civil works worth around ₹58 crore, adding that 43 works were done through subcontractors, taking the total to ₹114 crore.

Jaitley, who was DDCA president for 13 years till 2013, also hit back at the Congress, saying the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was built at a cost of ₹900 crore and Dhyanchand Stadium for ₹600 crore, but while the Kotla stadium has a seating capacity of 42,000, the Dhyanchand stadium can seat only 14,000.

However, in an embarrassment for the ruling BJP, Azad rose to say that while there were no two opinions about the fact that the cost of Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium was ₹114 crore and JLN Stadium cost ₹900 crore, “those who did so are facing the consequences”. He questioned why the CBI had issued a notice to the DDCA this October if there was no wrongdoing, adding that only a probe would clear the air.

Inquiry commission Meanwhile, the Delhi Cabinet on Monday approved the setting up of a commission of inquiry under former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam to probe alleged irregularities in the DDCA.

The Cabinet also decided to call a special session on Tuesday to discuss the DDCA issue and the recent CBI raid at the Delhi Secretariat.