Political fight over CBI raid escalates; Sisodia claims he got message from BJP to break AAP

New Delhi [India], August 22 (ANI): The political fight over CBI raid at Manish Sisodia’s residence last week escalated on Monday with the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister claiming that he had received a “message from BJP” that CBI and ED cases against him will be closed if he breaks AAP and the BJP accusing him and Arvind Kejriwal of being silent on questions related to Delhi’s scrapped excise policy.
The BJP attack on Aam Aadmi Party was led by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur who said that “‘Dawa mantri’ was arrested and is in jail for the last three months and now their corrupt ‘Daru Mantri’ is first in list of accused” in the CBI FIR in the excise policy case.

Thakur referred to Kejriwal’s book ‘Swaraj’ and claimed that the AAP government had ushered a ‘sharab raj’ instead. “In his book titled Swaraj, Kejriwal has written that the government allocates liquor contracts for collecting money without asking the citizens and without asking the women. So, today, we want to ask, whom did Kejriwal ask before allocating the liquor contracts. He wrote a book – Swaraj – but eventually brought ‘sharab raj,” Thakur alleged.

BJP also dismissed Sisodia’s and Kejriwal’s claims with party leader Gaurav Bhatia saying AAP leaders were “talking useless”. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged on Monday that he had received an offer from the Bharatiya Janata Party to split the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in what he claimed was a quid pro quo as the CBI initiated a probe into Delhi’s now withdrawn excise policy.
“My reply to the BJP is – I am a descendant of Maharana Pratap, a Rajput. I will sacrifice my head but will not bow down to the corrupt and those who conspire. All the cases against me are false. Do what you want to do,” Sisodia said in a tweet.

He claimed that BJP wanted to make him chief ministerial candidate and said Arvind Kejriwal was my “political guru”. “Arvind Kejriwal is my political guru, I will never betray him. I did not come (to politics) to become Chief Minister. My dream is that every child in the country gets good education, only then will our country become No 1. Only Kejriwal can do this in the country,” he said in a tweet.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta took a jibe at Sisodia over his claims and said that he had failed to hide behind “education model and children” and has now created drama of hiding behind Maharana Pratap.
“Do not spoil the name of Maharana Pratap. His descendants do not get liquor vends opened outside schools and near temples and neither get women beaten up with their goondas,” he said in a tweet.

CBI last week conducted searches on Sisodia’s official residence and carried out raids at several places in connection with the alleged corruption in the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy. Both Sisodia and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were in poll-bound Gujarat on Monday and made several attacks on BJP over the raids.

Kejriwal strongly backed Sisodia and said he deserves a Bharat Ratna for his contribution to the education sector but was being hounded by investigative agencies. “He (Manish Sisodia) reformed govt schools which other parties could not do in 70 years. Such a person should get Bharat Ratna. The entire country’s education system should be handed over to him, but instead, they conducted CBI raids on him,” Kejriwal said at a joint press conference with Sisodia.

Kejriwal also attacked the BJP-led government. “Rupee is falling, people are troubled by inflation, unemployment is at a high and these people are playing ‘CBI-ED’, and are busy toppling governments chosen by people and exchanging abuses and barbs the entire day,” he alleged. “Who do people talk to about their issues and whom should they go to? How will the nation progress like this?” the Delhi chief minister tweeted.

Referring to Sisodia’s claims about receiving messages from BJP, Kejriwal said that it means CBI-ED action had nothing to do with liquor policy and corruption “but to oust the AAP government as has been done with (opposition governments) in other states”. “Operation Lotus has failed in Delhi,” he said in another tweet.

Anurag Thakur lashed out at Arvind Kejriwal over allegations of corruption. “I gave him 24 hours to respond, but he hasn’t said a word. Nor has any other AAP spokesperson. First, their corrupt ‘Dawa mantri’ was arrested and in jail for the last 3 months and now their corrupt ‘Daru Mantri’ is first in list of accused, but still the kingpin is silent,” Thakur said.

Gaurav Bhatia attacked Kejriwal, saying that the person whom Delhi Chief Minister gives a certificate of honesty goes to jail. “After deliberation, you will bow to the rule of law, your corruption will stop,” he said. He said Kejriwal was not answering questions being asked by people and “records were being created in terms of corruption”. “The BJP is exposing the corruption and dishonesty of AAP. It is clear that Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia do not have answers to questions of people,” he said.
AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj also claimed that Sisodia was approached by BJP with an offer to become the party’s chief ministerial face in Delhi.

Sisodia hit out at the BJP during his two-day visit to Gujarat. “I received a text saying CBI, ED cases would be taken back if you leave the party and break it while leaving it. They also promised me the post of CM. I am not here to become CM, but to give the best education to students across the country.”

When asked about the person who contacted him on behalf of the BJP, the AAP leader said, “The ones who conveyed the message said that they had made Suvendu Adhikari in West Bengal, Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam, Narayan Rane. He said that keep faith in us.”

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter and MLC, K Kavitha also joined the BJP and AAP battle over CBI raids and said on Monday that she will file a defamation case against Delhi BJP leaders – MP Parvesh Varma and former MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa for their allegations that she acted as a “middleman” between the liquor mafia and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

“The allegations made on me are completely baseless…I don’t have any link with what was said in the Delhi Excise scam. They have all the agencies in their hands, they can do whatever investigation that is required. We will completely cooperate,” Kavitha said. (ANI)