Amidst the political arena of New Delhi, Atishi, a senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of wielding its investigative powers as a tool for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) agenda. She alleged that the ED’s interest in accessing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s phone is an attempt to uncover AAP’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Kejriwal, serving as the national convener of AAP, found himself in the ED’s custody on charges related to money laundering linked to the Delhi excise policy. Atishi raised concerns during a press conference, emphasizing that the ED’s pursuit of Kejriwal’s relatively new phone, which wasn’t in existence during the period under scrutiny, is indicative of the agency’s partisan motives.

“It’s not about investigating the case; it’s about prying into AAP’s political playbook,” Atishi declared, insinuating that BJP’s interests are at play behind the ED’s actions.

Highlighting the temporal disparity between the implementation of the excise policy in 2021-22 and the acquisition of Kejriwal’s current device, Atishi contested the ED’s demands for access to his phone and its password. She asserted that the motive behind this demand is to unearth AAP’s election strategies, engagement with opposition blocs like INDIA, and tactics concerning media and social platforms.

The INDIA bloc, a coalition of opposition parties formed to counter BJP’s dominance, includes AAP, TMC, Congress, DMK, and SP. Atishi underscored that the scrapping of the 2021-22 excise policy amidst corruption allegations underscores the political undertones of the investigation.