Another blow for the beleaguered AAP.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: The beleaguered AAP government in New Delhi on Tuesday received the biggest blow ever since it took office when its law minister Jitender Singh Tomar resigned after police arrested him for allegedly making a bogus law degree certificate.
Tomar, who is currently in police custody, for a declared four days, sent his resignation letter through his lawyer stating that he doesn’t want his party to lose face due to the allegations leveled against him that ranges from cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia confirmed the resignation of tomar.
“JS Tomar put in his papers a while back. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accepted the resignation and it will be sent to the L-G tomorrow,” said Sisodia.
Tomar, 49, was taken into custody by police after a complaint was filed by city’s bar council alleging that the law minister of the state has faked his academic documents, including mark sheets, B.Sc. degree, provisional documents and above all his law degree.
Meanwhile, the AAP, that poses itself as a corruption free people’s party, has defended Tomar saying that his arrest is part of a larger political conspiracy and questioned the need for the swift police action when the case is still being heard by the Delhi High Court.
According to the City Police Commissioner BS Bassi, the police has followed all procedures before arresting Tomar and said he will remain in police custody for the next four days for further questioning.
An infuriated Sisodia told media persons that “Tomar was arrested as if he was a mafia. Was he running away? Did he set off a bomb? What was the emergency, especially when a scam is being reopened? This is an attempt to teach AAP a lesson.”
According to sources inside AAP, Kapil Mishra, the current Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman, Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, former law minister and Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti stand a chance to replace Tomar as the new law minister. Another section of the party workers wants Arvind Kejriwal to take additional charge of the law portfolio.
The last few months have been very turbulent for the AAP, which is the youngest political party in India, in power. The party locked horns with the Lt. Gen. Najeeb Jung over the administrative control of Delhi. Kejriwal has been very critical about the central government and prime minister Narendra Modi, repeatedly accusing the BJP led government of trying to bring down the AAP government through Jung, who is currently in control of the key departments such as police, land and services.
Tomar’s tough time started in February when the bar council filed a petition against him in Delhi high court accusing him of faking his under graduation certificate to enrol as a law student. They also submitted an RTI reply from the university that said his degree, mark sheet and roll number were completely fabricated.
Causing more trouble for Tomar came the declaration from Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, from where Tomar claimed to have obtained his law degree. It said to the high court that the law certificate produced by Tomar was not “genuine” and didn’t exist in the university records. Following this, a BJP leader filed another case against Tomar for lying in the nomination paper about his education qualification. If Tomar is found guilty, his party will lose his assembly seat and will have to face another election in his constituency.