Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Tuesday claimed that the real target of the criminal action against him was party chief Arvind Kejriwal, ANI reported.
Sisodia made the claim in his resignation letter as a minister in the Delhi government.
The former Delhi deputy chief minister was arrested on Sunday by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a case related to alleged irregularities in the national capital’s now-scrapped liquor policy. On Monday, a Delhi court had sent him to CBI custody till March 4.
Sisodia and his colleague in the Cabinet Satyendar Jain, who is facing money laundering allegations, resigned from their posts on Tuesday. The AAP’s National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted their resignation letters.
Sisodia, in his resignation letter, wrote that he was accused of corruption despite having worked honestly for eight years. He said that the allegations against him were false and were a conspiracy hatched by cowardly and weak people who are scared of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of truth.”
The Delhi deputy chief minister said: “Their target is not me, but you [Kejriwal] because today, the people of Delhi as well of as the rest of the country see you as a leader who has a vision for the country.”
Sisodia claimed that preparations are on to file more cases against him. “They tried hard to make me leave your [Kejriwal’s] side,” he said. “When I did not bow down before them, today they have arrested me and put me in jail.”
Sisodia has been held in connection to the Delhi government’s new excise policy that had come into effect in November 2021. Under it, licences of 849 liquor shops were issued to private firms through open bidding. Earlier, four government corporations ran 475 liquor stores and the remaining 389 were private shops.
However, the policy was withdrawn by the AAP-led government on July 30 after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry alleging irregularities in the policy’s formulation and implementation.
The CBI has claimed that Sisodia was arrested after he gave evasive responses and did not cooperate despite being confronted with evidence related to the case.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to hear the AAP leader’s plea challenging his arrest. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said that the former minister has alternative remedies available before the Delhi High Court.
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