Editorial: Kejriwal Hoist By His Own Petard

Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP boss and Delhi Chief Minister, may at last find at his own cost that falsehood and lies can often prove counter-productive. Though he has been making completely false claims about his MLAs being offered huge sums of money to topple his government, this time he may find it hard to wriggle out. For, on a complaint lodged by the Delhi unit of the BJP, the Delhi Police have begun investigation into his charge that seven of the 22 AAP MLAs approached by the BJP, were offered Rs 25 crore each to defect to the party. On Friday, when the police went to Kejriwal’s house to invite him to join the investigation, Kejriwal made himself unavailable, saying he was busy. A day later, on Saturday the police succeeded in serving him and his ministerial colleague, Atishi, the summons to join the investigation. Offering money to induce defections is a cognisable offence and needs to be investigated. It is another matter that Kejriwal is known to utter such falsehoods in the hope that the gullible people will buy into his cock-and-bull stories. Some time ago, a few AAP members who were directed by Kejriwal to call AAP legislators so that he could spin a yarn about bribes being offered to the latter had rebelled against him, thus spilling beans about the low-grade tactics of the AAP supremo. It is now for the police to seek proof from Kejriwal about the offer of Rs 25 crore to his MLAs, or to penalise him under the law for resorting to such falsehoods knowing full well that there was not a shred of truth in them. It cannot be business as usual for the charlatan.