CBI raid at Sisodia's residence: AAP says it's a plot to vilify party

As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the home and office of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the alleged corruption in excise policy, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the Union government was out to fix the AAP after its winning streak.

The Opposition Congress said even if there were grounds for a probe, the misuse of central agencies would undermine their credibility. The BJP said the AAP’s claims of accessible educational opportunities have always been bogus.

The Delhi government rolled out a new excise policy for liquor allegedly without the Lieutenant Governor’s endorsement. The CBI said there were procedural irregularities in the government’s decision.

The AAP arose to defend the minister to the hilt, saying Friday’s events were a plot to vilify the party, Sisodia, and the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “Earlier they used to say Modi vs who? After we won Punjab, the same people are saying Modi vs Kejriwal," AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chaddha said. “The only agenda of the BJP is ‘finish Kejriwal’. It is no coincidence that the CBI team landed a day after the New York Times article,” he said. The newspaper had written about Delhi’s school education experiments. “They are making a case to arrest Sisodia,” Chaddha said.

Kejriwal said: “Today, Sisodia was declared the best education minister in the world. But the CBI is raiding him. There will be several roadblocks in our mission to become the best country in the world. This is not the first raid on Sisodia. There have been several false cases — against him, Satyendar Jain, and me. They will not find anything. Let the CBI do its job, they have orders from the top.”

Sisodia said: “We welcome the CBI. Will give full cooperation in the investigation so that the truth can come out soon. Till now, many cases have been filed against me, but nothing has come out. Nothing will come out of it either. My work for good education in the country cannot be stopped…It is very unfortunate that those who do good work in our country are harassed like this. That is why our country has not yet become No 1.”

Delhi Police has imposed Section 144 around Sisodia’s residence and Mathura road area and about 80 AAP supporters were detained as they protested the raids. The party is holding internal meetings on further strategy. 

Political reactions came thick and fast. The Congress said the ‘revolutionary’ excise policy for liquor sales had actually originated from Congress CM Sheila Dikshit. Congress leader Alka Lamba said the AAP “kept on opposing the liquor policy during Dikshit’s time. But ultimately, it had to roll back its own liquor policy and go back to the one that was implemented by Dikshit”. 

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the honest end up paying the price in such processes. “The flip side to relentless misuse of agencies against political rivals is that even legitimate, rightful actions of agencies come under a cloud of suspicion. In the process, the corrupt get away hiding behind the ‘misuse’ argument and the honest end up paying the price,” Khera said on Twitter. Congress leader Anil Kumar said: “The BJP has eight MLAs in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. It has seven MPs. How come none of them wrote any letters? Why didn’t they take a delegation to the L-G?”

The BJP quoted media reports to say that AAP’s claims of making education accessible were rubbish. Delhi BJP spokesman Vinit Goenka said in 2017-18, according to media reports, the Delhi government schools only readmitted 3,812 students of 42,503 who failed the Class 10 examinations. “Where did the rest go? The same applies to those students who failed in Class 12. Just a handful were re-admitted,” Goenka added: “Sisodia did a presentation at his press conference about equitable distribution of liquor. But not once did he talk about the equitable distribution of education,” he said.