Arun Jaitley today filed an application seeking perjury proceedings against Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly filing a false affidavit before the Delhi High Court in which he claimed that he had not asked senior advocate Ram Jethmalani to use abusive language against the Union Finance Minister.

Jaitley has told the High Court that Kejriwal's former counsel Jethmalani had sent him a letter, stating that he was asked to use derogatory words against him in the defamation case. Jaitley has alleged that Kejriwal gave false affidavit stating he did not instruct his lawyer to use abusive words against the minister, and wants him tried for perjury.

Jaitley's lawyers Rajiv Nayar and Sandeep Sethi have urged the court to allow them to file a criminal complaint against Kejriwal for making a false statement and filing a false affidavit.

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Kejriwal and asked him to respond to Jaitley's allegation within four weeks. The matter will be next heard on December 11.

Jaitley has sued Kejriwal and five other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for defamation after the party made allegations of corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), an organisation that Jaitley headed until 2013.

WHAT IS THE DEFAMATION CASE ABOUT

On May 17 this year, Jaitley and Jethmalani clashed in the Delhi High Court with the Union Minister taking strong objections to a word that Jethmalani used in his cross-examination. After Jethmalani said that he used the word on instructions from Kejriwal, Jaitley then filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit.

Kejriwal, however, denied instructing Jethmalani of using such objectionable words.

In the hearings so far, Jaitley has claimed that the defamatory statement made by the AAP leaders has adversely affected his reputation and the allegation regarding financial bungling in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) was false.

Jaitley told the court that statement made by accused that he and his family had a pecuniary interest in the company who had given charge for the construction and renovation of Ferozshah Kotla stadium was per se false and defamatory.

The BJP leader told court that in the capacity of DDCA President, he used to chair the board meetings where only the important decisions were put up for approval before the board.

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