Arrest of sitting CM on eve of polls constitutes 'threat to democracy': Aiyar on Kejriwal

New Delhi: A day after Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Thursday said the arrest of a sitting chief minister, that too on the very eve of a general election, constitutes an immediate and long-term "threat to democracy and presages the end of constitutional democracy in India".

Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi chief minister, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday.

In a statement, Aiyar said the "unprecedented arrest of a sitting CM, and that too on the very eve of a general election after the promulgation of the Model Code of Conduct, constitutes an immediate and long-term threat to democracy and presages the end of constitutional democracy in India".

"It is the most dangerous move which taken in conjunction with other democracy damaging moves threaten the future of people's rule in our dearly beloved country. It is an insult to the memory of Gandhiji and Baba Saheb Ambedkar," the former Union minister said.

Kejriwal was on Friday produced before a court where the Enforcement Directorate dubbed him a "key conspirator" in the liquor scam case and sought his 10-day custody.

Soon after Kejriwal's arrest, the Congress alleged that the BJP was scared of the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls and creating all kinds of problems for the opposition out of panic.