Hours after summons, US flags Arvind Kejriwal's arrest again, mentions frozen Congress accounts

A day after India summoned a US diplomat and objected to remarks on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, the United States reiterated that it “follows these actions closely” and “encourages fair, transparent, timely legal processes”.

US also said that it was aware of the Congress party's allegations that tax authorities had frozen some of their bank accounts.

“We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. We are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues,” the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

He was responding to a question on India summoning the US diplomat over comments on Kejriwal’s arrest, and the recent political turmoil, including the freezing of the Congress’s bank account.

When asked about India summoning the US diplomat, Miller refused to make any comment, citing "private diplomatic conversations".

"I'm not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations. But of course, what we have said publicly is what I just said here, that we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes. We don't think anyone should object to that," Miller said.