Calling Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo a habitual liar, founder party member Kumar Vishwas said that his statements against Union Minister Arun Jaitley — relating to the alleged irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) — were based on information he received as a party worker.
“Yaa to unhone (Kejriwal) tab jhoot bola tha yaa abhi bol rahe hai. Ab jab mai kaagzaat maang raha hoon to vo de nahi rahe hai. Ye aadatan jhoota aadmi hai, jiski vajah se abhi ye paristithiyan hai. (Either he lied previously or is lying now. He is not giving the documents. He is a habitual liar, due to which the current situation arose),” he told the Delhi High Court on Thursday.
While regretting the damage and injury caused to Jaitley, Vishwas, a rebel party leader, told Justice R S Endlaw that “personally, he also does not want to take the matter further”.
“However, I need to know first, on what ground the allegations were made against Jaitley. Being a small party worker, we need to follow instructions from the top leadership,” he said. Vishwas was present in court pursuant to the court’s April 26 directions.
He also claimed that Kejriwal told them he has documents related to the alleged financial irregularities in the DDCA during the BJP leader’s tenure as president from 2000-2013. The leader further said that before making any statement or apology, he wants to know if Kejriwal had lied before he apologised to Jaitley or if the reason for his apology amounted to a lie.
Vishwas, who addressed the court in Hindi, said he was trying to contact the AAP supremo on the issues, as he was not included when Kejriwal and the other four leaders decided to issue the apology.
However, Jaitley’s counsel Manik Dogra, said he wants Vishwas to apologise. “(Whether) he toed the line of his party leader or not is different thing,” he said, adding that Vishwas had claimed to have seen the documents while making the allegations. Vishwas said he needs time to decide the statement he will make to dispose of the civil suit against him. The court granted him time till May 28.
On April 26, the high court had directed Vishwas to appear before it and explain whether he wants to cross-examine Jaitley.
Jaitley had filed a civil defamation suit in December 2015, claiming Rs 10 crore as damages from Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders. The others had tendered an apology last month.
