Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday claimed that the first information report registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation was fake, PTI reported.
Sisodia made the comments at the one-day special session of the Delhi Assembly. Last week, the CBI had booked the Aam Aadmi Party leader and 14 other persons alleging irregularities in a new liquor policy for the capital city. The policy has been temporarily withdrawn.
On August 19, the central agency had also raided Sisodia’s official residence in Central Delhi and 20 other locations.
On Friday, Sisodia accused the Narendra Modi-led Union government of making attempts to topple state governments. He added that the prime minister was insecure of good work done in states ruled by his rival parties.
“They [Centre] are acting like serial killer to eliminate other state governments,” Sisodia said, according to PTI. “The effort they are putting to murder state governments, they should have put that much effort into building schools and hospitals.”
Sisodia denied the allegations of corruption against him and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party was in fact involved in wrongdoings.
“There was no burden on the people in the excise policy and the government’s revenue also increased, but still the BJP was alleging corruption in it,” Sisodia said in the Delhi Assembly.
BJP MLAs marshalled out
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla ordered the marshalls in the Assembly to remove all BJP MLAs from the House during the session on Friday, PTI reported. She took the decision after BJP legislator Ajay Mahawar was accused of making a video recording of the Assembly proceedings.
“Have you done the video recording?” Birla asked Mahawar, according to PTI. “If you have, then why should your phone not be seized? This is against the laws of the House.”
Mahawar refused to give a reply, resulting in an argument between BJP and Aam Aadmi Party MLAs. The deputy speaker then ordered that BJP MLAs be marshalled out.
On Wednesday, The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government had called for Friday’s special session of the Assembly. The session was convened amid allegations levelled by the Aam Aadmi Party that the BJP offered bribes to its MLAs to switch sides.
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BJP offered Rs 20 crore each to 40 AAP MLAs to switch sides, alleges Arvind Kejriwal
Kejriwal wants confidence motion
During the special session, Kejriwal said that he wants a confidence motion in the House to prove that Aam Aadmi Party MLAs have not switched sides, ANI reported.
“It is being said that they [BJP] broke away a number of MLAs,” Kejriwal said. “I received phone calls, people asked me if everything is alright. I’d like to bring a confidence motion in [the] House to show people that not even one [AAP MLA] went away, that BJP’s Operation Lotus became ‘Operation keechad’ here.”
Operation Lotus is a term used to refer to the BJP’s alleged attempts to orchestrate defections in Opposition parties.
Kejriwal also accused the BJP of toppling governments in several states including Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya, ANI reported.
On raids against Sisodia, Kejriwal said that they went on for 14 hours but no money was recovered.
“No jewellery was found, no cash was found, no documents of any land or property were found and no incriminating document was found,” he said. Nothing was found. It was a false raid.”
The chief minister also said that false cases against the Aam Aadmi Party members will continue till the Gujarat polls.
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