'Dirty Politics': Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal calls Sisodia innocent after his arrest

HIGHLIGHTS

• CBI arrests Manish Sisodia in liquor scam case
• Delhi CM Kejriwal calls him innocent after arrest
• AAP MLA Atishi said that BJP is fearful of Kejriwal and Sisodia's rise

Reacting to Manish Sisodia’s arrest, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the deputy chief minister was innocent and his arrest was ‘dirty politics’.

"Manish is innocent. His arrest is dirty politics. His arrest has angered people quite a lot. People are watching everything. People now understand everything and will give reply to this. It will boost our spirit and our struggle will only get stronger," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party had already predicted that Sisodia would be arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) minutes after he was taken into custody in the Delhi liquor policy case, NDTV reported.

"The CBI is completely at the behest of the centre. We always knew Manish Sisodia would be arrested," AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said. "It is sad and predictable how the probe agencies work," he added.

Reciting the lines from 'Krishna Ki Chetawani' (The Warning of Krishna), a poem by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Bharadwaj said, "This kind of arrogance was in Duryodhan too. When Lord Krishna went to him and put the reality in front of him and tried to talk to him, he tried to capture Lord Krishna too."

Meanwhile, AAP MLA Atishi said that BJP is fearful of Kejriwal and Sisodia's rise. "The AAP's increasingly popularity is the reason behind the arrest. The BJP is trying to finish off the AAP. The case is a false one," Atishi told reporters in Delhi today. She rubbished the BJP's allegations that the "liquor policy scam" was worth Rs 10,000 crore. "Where is the money? Where is the Rs 10,000 crore? You have searched everywhere, raided his home," she said.

The arrest of Sisodia comes 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.

CBI had arrested Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a case related to the alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy relating to the sale of alcohol.

Sisodia was arrested after nearly eight hours of questioning on various aspects of the excise policy for 2021-22, which the probe agency says suffered from irregularities both in its formulation and implementation, allegedly intended to benefit people with links to the AAP.

The CBI investigators were not satisfied with Sisodia's answers, PTI quoted an agency official as saying, adding he was not cooperating in the investigation and avoided clarifications sought on crucial points.

Sisodia also predicted that this round of questioning could also mean that he is going to get arrested.

"I can go to jail several times and I am not afraid. When I left my job as a journalist, my wife supported me. Even today, my family is standing by my side. My workers will take care of my family if I get arrested," Sisodia told reporters at Raj Ghat

(With inputs from agencies)

Also Read: AAP's Manish Sisodia arrested by CBI in Delhi liquor policy case

Also Read: Read CBI's full statement on Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's arrest