Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went on trial Saturday in a criminal defamation case filed against him by India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Kejriwal's fledgling anti-corruption Aam Aadmi (Common Man's) Party has been at loggerheads with Premier Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kejriwal and five leaders of his party had accused Jaitley, Modi's key ally, of financial irregularities when the latter was head of Delhi's Cricket Association between 2000-2012.
The court in Delhi decided to proceed with the trial after Kejriwal and others plead not guilty.
‘Today the court has framed notices and directed that the trial will proceed on 20 May, 2017,’ Jaitley's lawyer Siddharth Luthra told reporters.
In his suit against Kejriwal, Jaitley rejected charges that he or his family profited from his tenure at the DDCA and said the false accusations damaged his reputation.
The Delhi government has been locked in a running feud with the federal government since Kejriwal took power in 2014, after his party thrashed BJP in assembly polls winning 67 of the 70 assembly seats.
