New Delhi: The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has once again thrown the Congress party into disarray, with leaders expressing divergent views on the matter, exposing an open divide within the party.

Maharashtra Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam voiced his concerns, stating, "The Court will decide if Arvind Kejriwal has taken any money or not, I cannot say anything on that... But when a person, especially a CM, is accused of corruption and says that he will run the government from jail and not resign, this indicates a very wrong trend... A person who taught honesty from 2011-14 and claimed that he is a 'Kattar Imaandar', is not displaying any basic elements of ethics... If he is honest, then he should resign... Running a government from jail is not legal and practically possible... On the basis of ethics and legalities, he (Arvind Kejriwal) should resign..."

Nirupam's remarks highlight the internal strife within the Congress party regarding Kejriwal's arrest and subsequent actions. 

Earlier Punjab Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu denounced the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) terming them "thugs." Bittu's scathing remarks questioned the integrity of the AAP, labeling them as hypocrites who promised Swaraj and Jan Lokpal but resorted to corruption. He highlighted the ongoing corruption case in Delhi as merely scratching the surface, emphasizing the yet-to-be-resolved issues surrounding Raghav Chadha. 

Congress bigwigs call Kejriwal’s arrest ‘unconstitutional'

This comes following several Congress leaders opposed to Arvind Kejriwal's arrest calling it the “death of democracy" and “unconstitutional".

Criticising PM Modi's government, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra regarded how Arvind Kejriwal was arrested as “unconstitutional".

“Fight your critics in the electoral battle, confront them boldly, and of course attack their policies and working style - this is democracy. But in this way, using the power of all the institutions of the country to fulfil one's political objective and weakening them by exerting pressure is against every principle of democracy," wrote Priyanka Gandhi on X in Hindi.

Criticising the present situation of Delhi Chief Minister, Congress leader Udit Raj said that the heavy police security around the Delhi CM's residence turned it into a “camp" as if Arvind Kejriwal is a “dacoit".

“A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy. While capturing all the institutions including the media, breaking up the parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the account of the main opposition party was not enough for the 'devilish power', now the arrest of the elected Chief Ministers has also become a common thing. INDIA will give a befitting reply to this," wrote Rahul Gandhi on X.

Mentioning the freezing of Congress' accounts and arrest of Hemant Soren, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit criticised the manner in which CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED officials. “What is this way of reaching someone's house to arrest them? Be it freezing Congress' accounts, arresting Hemant Soren, or arresting Arvind Kejriwal, ED is just relating it to the elections. There is no other explanation. We condemn this action. You cannot kill a democratic party right before the elections," he told reporters.