Following Manish Sisodia’s summons by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for interrogation in the purported excise policy corruption case, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj said on Sunday that Sisodia “will be arrested tomorrow,” reported news agency, ANI. He also attempted to draw links between the approaching Gujarat elections and the CBI summoning Sisodia.
Bhardwaj said that because AAP is a rival in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party is afraid of fighting them head-on.
He added “CBI has summoned Manish Sisodia and will arrest him tomorrow. It has been alleged that a huge scam of Rs 10,000 crore has taken place and for that CBI and ED (Enforcement Directorate) have raided at atleast 500 places so far. CBI raided Sisodia’s residence for 14 hours, but they could not find anything,” reported ANI.
He further added “This is directly linked with Gujarat elections as AAP competes with the BJP there and hence is scared. Manish Sisodia will be arrested to stop his programmes but the AAP will only grow stronger.”
Bhardwaj went on to say that he is convinced that Sisodia would be arrested since a similar scenario occurred before when AAP leaders were summoned for interrogation and subsequently taken into custody.
The senior AAP leader expressed confidence in the party’s win in Gujarat and added that the “increasing” number of arrests will make the party “stronger.” He said: “We would have remained silent if we were afraid. The rise in the number of arrests will raise our graph in Gujarat, the increase in BJP’s oppression will make our graph rise.”
Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, said in a tweet that he had received summons from the CBI today and will go to the agency’s headquarters on Monday. In Hindi, he tweeted: “I will go and fully cooperate with the CBI as it has called me to the headquarters at 11 am tomorrow after raiding my house for 14 hours and searching bank account and even my village where they could not find anything.”
In connection with the suspected corruption in the execution of Delhi’s excise policy, the enforcement agencies searched Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, among other locations in August.
(With inputs from ANI)