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Manish Sisodia on CBI summons: “Plan to arrest me, keep me out of Gujarat”

October 17, 2022
Bharat Times

Manish Sisodia said, “They want to stop me from going to Gujarat for campaigning.”

New Delhi:

Manish Sisodia, who is being questioned by the CBI in the liquor policy case, predicted his arrest today, which he termed as the BJP’s “plan” to stop him from campaigning for the upcoming Gujarat elections.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister held a roadshow in an open-roof SUV on his way to the CBI office and visited several stops including Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, and addressed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers.

Mr. Sisodia, 50, left home after “TilakRituals, along with AAP leaders like party MP Sanjay Singh and MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj. He also shared a video blessing his mother.

Sources say the CBI has prepared a list of questions and will ask them in “multiple phases”. He says that the evidence found so far and the statements of other accused in the ‘liquor scam’ will be placed before the Deputy Chief Minister.

He said, “They raided my house, nothing came out of it. They went to my village to find anything against him, but they found nothing. Now they want to arrest me for stopping me from campaigning in Gujarat. We are planning. I am not afraid of CBI, ED. (Enforcement Directorate) or going to jail,” he said while addressing party workers on his way.

“Bhagat Singh also had to go to jail for the country,” he said.

The BJP criticized the roadshow and said that it looks like “Aam Aadmi Party has won the World Cup of Corruption”.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “The way Manish Sisodia was shouting slogans in an open car on the roads with his supporters today, it seems that the Aam Aadmi Party has won the World Cup of corruption.

Backing his deputy, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the case against him was “completely bogus”. He also tweeted a cartoon depicting Mr. Sisodia in a heroic avatar. In the picture, he is seen holding a shield named “Delhi Education Model” while helping a girl with her studies, while arrows named ED and CBI are shooting at her.

Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi, “He was to go to Gujarat for election campaign. He will be arrested for trying to stop him. But the election campaign will not stop. Every person in Gujarat is campaigning for AAP today.” ,

The AAP chief claimed that Manish Sisodia “will be kept in jail till the Gurajal election results are out”. “Gujarat results will come on 8th December. These people will keep Manish in jail till then,” Kejriwal tweeted.

The Election Commission has not yet announced the dates for the Gujarat Assembly elections.

Mr Sisodia attacked the BJP in a series of tweets hours before the questioning. “BJP is scared because it knows it is losing Gujarat… their aim is to stop me from going to Gujarat,” he tweeted.

Large gatherings were banned around his house to prevent AAP workers from gathering there and a heavy police force was seen at the spot.

Mr Kejriwal, Mr Sisodia and others in his party allege that the BJP is targeting him because of his campaign in Gujarat, where the AAP has challenged the ruling party.

The CBI had registered a case in August in a Delhi court against Mr Sisodia and 14 others under various sections, listing charges such as criminal conspiracy and corruption. The CBI is probing whether the AAP government’s liquor policy helped the liquor cartel.

The Arvind Kejriwal government in July scrapped the liquor policy implemented from November 17 last year following a CBI inquiry recommended by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena.

The Center alleges that the AAP government violated the rules by implementing the policy in which the sale of liquor was handed over to private players, government-run outlets were closed. Mr Sisodia said that the policy is to tackle corruption and fight the powerful liquor mafia.