Manish Sisodia arrested, BJP shifts targets — ‘Kejriwal is next’

Party sources said the development had paved the way for the BJP to march confidently forward towards the 2024 Lok Sabha elections the strategy for which in the capital would revolve around pitting “AAP’s corrupt and ineffective governance” against the “glory and development” that the BJP government at the Centre had brought to the city and the country viz. the upcoming G20 Summit.

I&B Minister Anurag Thakur accused Sisodia of fanning a media spectacle around this possible arrest in the alleged scam instead of answering questions related to the scam. “I believe that some people, instead of cooperating in the investigation, make too much of a clamour in the media. What fear has gripped you? Why are you afraid if you haven’t done anything? But if you have done something, then there is no point in saying anything in your defence,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that today, an Education Minister has been arrested in relation to an excise policy…Before placing the excise policy before its ministers, the Aam Aadmi Party reached out to the liquor mafia so it adopts policies which would be to their benefit…This is the same Aam Aadmi Party which earlier used to bring out a list every day of what it claimed were the most corrupt people in the country,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged.

The road beyond bars for the Deputy CM, BJP sources said, would be a long one given the “numerous cases and mounting evidence” against him. A party source claimed it was taken aback by the arrest on Sunday.

Though it had been looking forward to the development – to be able to capitalize on its political fallout – party insiders said they had expected Sisodia to be placed under arrest for alleged offences related to money laundering in relation to the scam by the Enforcement Directorate and not the CBI.

“We were under the impression that the ED had a stronger case against Sisodia under the Prevention for Money Laundering Act (PMLA) – especially since it has connections to the alleged utilization of the proceeds of crime from the excise policy scam in the Punjab and Goa Assembly elections; his arrest by the CBI was a surprise for us as well,” a leader claimed.

“This development in Delhi will have the same reverberations across states where the AAP seeks to expand on the basis of its ‘Delhi Model’; the party will pitch it wherever the AAP attempts to gain an electoral foothold especially with elections to 4 states scheduled this year,” a party source said.

North east Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari asked, “Why was the excise policy withdrawn if there was nothing wrong with it? When issues with it were raised, they took back the policy which they used to say is the best excise policy; if this was the case then why did you take it back?”