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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday sacked social welfare minister Sandeep Kumar after receiving 'objectionable' CD allegedly carrying details of some 'wrongdoings'.
The decision to sack the minister was taken at a high-level meeting attended by top Aam Aadmi Party leaders.
'Received 'objectionable' CD of minister Sandeep Kr. AAP stands for propriety in public life. That can't be compromised. Removing him from Cabinet wid immediate effect (sic),' Kejriwal tweeted announcing the decision.
Sources said the CD contained some wrongdoings by Kumar and Kejriwal did not approve of it.
Kumar represents Sultanpur Majra constituency. He is the second AAP minister to be sacked after Asim Ahmed Khan who was minister for food and supplies.
Sources said the decision to sack Kumar was taken at a hurriedly convened meeting of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee at Kejriwal’s residence.
“We will not tolerate any such acts. We have 67 MLAs. If anyone including the chief minister is found involved in any wrongdoings, immediate action will be taken as the AAP is different from other parties,” said Sisodia.
On October 9 last year, Kejriwal had sacked the then Environment and Food Minister Asim Ahmed Khan for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 6 lakh from a builder and recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case.
In June last year, then Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar had resigned after he was arrested on the charge of possessing fake degrees.
Reacting to the development, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party said Kejriwal must resign accepting moral responsibility for picking up the morally corrupt MLA in the cabinet.
“He must be rewarded for handing over Delhi’s governance to people with corrupt values. This has never happened in any government,” said Delhi BJP leader Vijender Gupta.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Maken too attacked the AAP saying three of the six ministers who were initially inducted were caught for alleged ‘fake degree, corruption, moral turpitude’.
‘But who chose them? Why aren't they expelled from Party?’ he asked in a tweet.
Another Congress leader Mukesh Sharma also hit out at the AAP and sought the resignation of the Delhi chief minister.
“Prior to this, other AAP ministers have also been removed, and now this scandal only shows, that it’s the story of Ali Baba and forty thieves, as there are several others in the AAP government, against whom cases are due,” he alleged.
“This government is corrupt and Arvind Kejriwal should immediately resign from his post on moral grounds,” he said.
AAP leader Kumar Vishwas said Sandeep has also sent his resignation.
“It is the chief minister’s prerogative who he wants in the cabinet and who he doesn’t. But the party is of the view that such acts cannot be tolerated. We urge other parties also to follow the suit,” he told reporters.
There was also a buzz that the AAP leadership knew about this video for a fortnight.
Kumar, however, rubbished the allegations saying, “We received the video today and the decision to sack Sandeep was taken within half-an-hour of receiving the video.”