The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fourth summons to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asking him to appear before the agency on January 18 for questioning in the money-laundering probe linked to the alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy.

Last week, Kejriwal had skipped the ED’s third summons, terming the notice “illegal” and “politically motivated”.

Earlier this week, the AAP, which is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, had announced that Kejriwal would travel to Goa for Lok Sabha election-related party work between January 18 and 20.

Addressing a media conference, AAP leader Gopal Rai on Saturday said the BJP was “misusing” the ED to stop Kejriwal from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls and also questioned the timing of the summons.

Asked if Kejriwal would appear before the ED this time, Rai, who is a minister in the Delhi government, said the party was taking legal opinion and would act accordingly.

“The ED should refrain from becoming a political weapon of the BJP. The way it is working, it appears to have become the BJP’s frontal organisation,” Rai said.

Responding to the AAP’s allegations, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said Kejriwal was acting like a “fugitive” and his party was giving “political colour” to the ED’s probe into a case in which two AAP leaders — former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh — were in jail.