"Always Involved In Corruption": Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta On Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the people of Delhi "will never forgive" Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party. Speaking to NDTV Friday evening, after the AAP boss and his ex-deputy, Manish Sisodia, were acquitted in the Delhi liquor policy case, Gupta refused to acknowledge their innocence, stating, "They have always been involved in corruption and debauchery."

The AAP leaders were arrested (Sisodia in February 2023 and Kejriwal in March 2024) and jailed, sans trial, on corruption and conspiracy charges. Their detention and twin scandals – the other being the 'sheesh mahal' row – were weaponised by rivals BJP to win the 2025 Delhi election.

Kejriwal and his AAP repeatedly protested their innocence, which was upheld this morning by Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court; it found "no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the policy".

The Chief Minister, though, repeated her party's allegations.

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"When they were in Delhi, they stayed in their 'sheesh mahal' and used all the resources available. They said they didn't want 'VIP culture' but they wanted everything."

Asked if the current Delhi government is planning another investigation, she said, "Everything is with the CAG (i.e., the Comptroller and Auditor General). Every scam – classroom scam, medicine scam, 'sheesh mahal' scam – is under investigation. What will they answer for?"

"Today they are celebrating and shedding crocodile tears, claiming to be clean. If you were clean, why did you run away?" she continued, claiming Kejriwal 'fled' Delhi – to neighbouring AAP-ruled Punjab – after the Supreme Court granted him bail in September 2024.

"Even today, they are using the power of Punjab… enjoying luxury there and building a 'sheesh mahal 2'," Gupta raged, referring to the BJP's fresh claims of corruption against Kejriwal and the AAP, i.e., that Kejriwal has been allotted a Rs 7 crore government bungalow in Chandigarh.

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"The syndicate that used to work in Delhi has now moved to Punjab and is operating from there... Sisodia and others are also working there. Their secretaries and everything have been moved there. Doesn't this show their intention?" she claimed. "They've packed up from Delhi and moved there. If they loved Delhi so much, they would have stayed and fought."

The prosecuting agency in this case, the Central Bureau of Investigation, has said it will 'immediately' appeal the verdict in the Delhi High Court, arguing that Special Judge Jitendra Singh had either overlooked or not considered several aspects of its investigation.

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The judge, in acquitting Kejriwal, Sisodia and nearly two dozen other individuals, including Telangana politician K Kavitha, the leader of the 'South Group', had asked searching questions of the CBI,.

These included asking why it had chosen that term and why it had relied almost exclusively on statements by accused persons turned government witnesses, or 'approvers'.