AAP vs BJP battle moves into DDCA turf

New Delhi: With cricketer turned politician Kirti Azad claiming of massive irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), AAP on Sunday stepped up the ante on their demand of the sacking Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from the government.

At a media conference in Delhi, Kirti Azad said the matter should be probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

"I just want to expose corruption… This is not personal or against one person," the former cricketer said.

Immediately after the BJP MP's press conference, the AAP asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Jaitley.

Notably, Jaitley headed the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for over a decade. He denied the accusations against him, and called Kirti Azad "a Trojan Horse".

A video showed at the press conference revealed that the DDCA assigned contracts to various companies which had fake addresses.

A host of allegations was made against the Delhi cricket body. Allegedly, DDCA rented laptops for Rs 16000 per piece per day, and 'puja ki thali' for Rs 5000 per day.

"Jaitley is the Suresh Kalmadi of BJP," Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh told the media, referring to the former Congress MP who was linked to the alleged corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"He (Jaitley) should be immediately sacked," Ashutosh added.

AAP leaders claimed that since Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was the first person in the government who tried to expose the corruption in DDCA, the CBI raided his office on December 15 in the name of targeting his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar.

The CBI wanted to look into the file which contained the report of a three-member committee which – on Kejriwal's orders – probed the financial irregularities in the working of DDCA, the AAP alleged.

However, the CBI denied searching Kejriwal's office.

Jaitley, however, rubbished the allegations and blamed the AAP for spreading the propaganda to hide their infighting and corruption. (Inputs from agencies)