Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 22: The Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia under the CBI scanner on Monday claimed that he had received an offer from the BJP to join the party and get all cases against him withdrawn and was promptly ridiculed by the BJP for the claim asking him to “reveal the name of the BJP leader who gave him the offer.”
He was also strongly criticised by the BJP leader and former Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari for calling himself a “descended of Maharana Pratap” and said the person “whose hands smacked with liquor corruption” should have thought it twice before talking about the great warrior.
Sisodia, who along with the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, are currently on a two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat from Monday, told media persons in Ahmedabad that he had been approached by the BJP with the offer to close all cases against him if he joined their party. Asserting that all the allegations against him were false, Sisodia said he will never bow down before “conspirators and corrupt people.”
“I have received a message from the BJP — leave AAP and join BJP. We will ensure that all cases by CBI and ED against you are shut. “My reply to BJP — I am a descendant of Maharana Pratap and a Rajput. I am ready to get beheaded but can never bow down before conspirators and corrupt people. All the cases against me are false. Do whatever you want to do,” he said.
Sisodia is number one accused in the list of 15 against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi excise policy of 2021-22. The AAP leader’s house was raided on Friday by the CBI after which the FIR was filed. He has stressed that the case against him was an effort to stop the good work being done by Kejriwal-led dispensation and also to put obstacles in the path of the AAP chief who is threatening to emerge as an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sisodia had claimed that those who messaged him said they got Suvendu Adhikari, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Jayant Panda to join the BJP and asked him to trust them. Calling Arvind Kejriwal, his political guru, he said he’d never betray him. “My message to BJP on offer to make me CM candidate – @ArvindKejriwal is my political guru, I will never betray him. I did not come here to become CM, my dream is – every child of the country should get a good education, and only then India will become the number 1 country. Only Kejriwal ji can do this work in the whole country,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.
Arvind Kejriwal, with Sisodia by his side, slammed the BJP for “harassing” his party leaders. “The man who showed us a miracle by making quality government schools and should have been given “Bharat Ratna” has been raided by CBI. Are you not ashamed? He should be consulted for education. Everybody in the country is upset over what happened,” he said, backing his deputy.
“Manish Sisodia may be arrested, who knows I may also be arrested; all this is being done for Gujarat elections,” Mr Kejriwal added.
The AAP sources have said raids on Sisodia will figure prominently in campaigns to counter the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in BJP-ruled Gujarat. “The CBI action against Sisodia has turned the public sentiment in our favour and we will go big with this issue during our campaigns because he has a very clean image,” party sources said.
Refuting the Sisodia’s claims of his offer from the BJP to join the party, Manoj Tiwari claimed the AAP leader was making up stories after being caught indulging in corrupt practices. “We keep wondering what new stories they will spin when we wake up in the morning,” he said. Slamming Sisodia, Manoj Tiwari said it was shameful that he was comparing himself to Maharana Pratap.
“It is shameful that he is comparing himself to Maharana Pratap. Did Maharana Pratap make people drink alcohol? You are selling alcohol in every nook and corner. You are ignoring the cries of Delhi’s women. Maharana Pratap had once taken up arms for women,” he said.
“You are comparing Maharana Pratap with someone facing a corruption case? Such corrupt people can only find a place in AAP. He will get punishment for his wrongdoing. BJP works to ensure punish wrongdoers like Manish Sisodia. No place for the corrupt in BJP,” he added.
AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj, backing Sisodia there are “three dozen examples” of the BJP pressuring leaders of rival parties with investigations and then dropping cases once they switched sides.
Seemingly undeterred, Sisodia last week doubled down saying the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was the “best” of its kind and would have earned ₹ 10,000 crore every year but for a last-minute decision-change by former Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The Deputy Chief Minister alleges that Baijal changed his mind on allowing liquor shops in unauthorised colonies and that it led to a loss of thousands of crores to the city government.
AAP alleges that cases against Sisodia and other leaders are cooked up because the BJP fears the popularity of the party and its chief Arvind Kejriwal. Sisodia has said the 2024 general election was set to be a contest between Kejriwal and Modi and accused the BJP of misusing central agencies to stop the AAP leader.
The CBI on Friday had carried out searches at 31 places including Sisodia’s residence and the premises of some bureaucrats — former Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and two other Excise Department officials and businessmen. The CBI is investigating at least two payments worth crores of rupees allegedly made to “close associates” of Sisodia by a liquor trader. The FIR alleged Sisodia’s “close associates” were “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees” to the accused public servants.
