New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that most of the CBI officers were opposed to arresting his deputy Manish Sisodia but did so due to “political pressure”. BJP MP Manoj Tiwari hit back at Kejriwal, saying everyone knew what the AAP national convener wrote or said was “fabricated”.
The CBI on Sunday arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy relating to the sale of alcohol.
“I am told that most CBI officers were against Manish’s arrest. All of them have huge respect for him and there is no evidence against him. But the political pressure to arrest him was so high that they had to obey their political masters,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.
Quote-tweeting Kejriwal, BJP MP Tiwari accused him of fabricating facts regarding Sisodia’s arrest and alleged that the Delhi chief minister had even lied about an IB report at the time of the Gujarat assembly elections.
“Similar kinds of fake news was spread by you regarding IB in Gujarat. Now everyone knows what you write and say is fabricated. Let the law take its course. Liquor Minister’s liquor scam probe will grow. This is your fear,” he said.
During the Gujarat polls in October 2022, Kejriwal had said that according to an IB report, if elections were held at that time, the AAP would form the government albeit by a thin margin.
Sisodia’s arrest, one of the high-profile actions against an opposition leader, came after that of Satyendar Jain, Delhi’s then health minister, in June last year. Both ministers have led what the Aam Aadmi Party describes as the successful transformation of Delhi’s education and health services, contributing to the party’s popularity and continued electoral success.
Meanwhile the AAP has alleged that 80 per cent of its leaders were illegally detained by the Delhi Police since Sunday, and questioned whether anyone can be kept in detention for more than 24 hours. The CBI on Sunday arrested Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy while police detained 50 people, including AAP MP Sanjay Singh and minister Gopal Rai, who were protesting near the CBI office.
According to police, the leaders detained on Sunday were being released today. Addressing a press conference, AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said the long detention was illegal and drew a parallel between former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s emergency era and the present.
“Since yesterday, the Aam Aadmi Party has been repeatedly saying that not only has Manish Sisodia ji been arrested, but almost 80 per cent of the leadership of the party has been arrested by police. When asked, the central government is saying that they have only been detained,” he said. “I want to know whether the detention is of one hour, two hours or three hours. Now, it will be 24 hours, can police detain such big leaders for 24 hours? There is no such provision in the law,” he opined.
AAP demands ex-LG Anil Baijal also be probed: The AAP’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai said, “It was the LG (Anil Baijal) who had put the final stamp on the excise policy papers. So why is he not being questioned? If agencies are transparent, they should have questioned the LG too. It is clear that a conspiracy has been hatched to trap Manish Sisodia,”
Rai said.
Senior leader Sanjay Singh lashed out at the BJP and the Centre, alleging the arrest was “nothing but the BJP’s dictatorship” and that it was done to divert the public attention from the Adani issue.
“The leader who has been working hard for the development of the children has been arrested by the CBI. Manish Sisodia’s house was thoroughly raided but nothing was found. This is happening to divert the attention of the public from outrage over the Adani issue,”
Singh said.
He described Sisodia’s arrest as “dirty politics”, and asserted that his party will “not bow down” before the BJP’s “dictatorship”. The Rajya Saba MP further claimed that the BJP is “jealous of the AAP’s achievements and popularity”.