The importance of Manish Sisodia: Why bail for him is music to AAP’s ears

The Delhi High Court, too, landed a blow, when it refused to hold Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest illegal and denied him interim bail. He now has to go back to the trial court, where his plea for regular bail in the CBI’s excise policy case will be argued. The Supreme Court has already granted him interim bail in the ED’s PMLA case originating from the CBI’s case.

At a time like this, Sisodia being granted bail in both the CBI and ED cases against him is expected to re-energise the party that is fighting its toughest battle yet, with most of its senior leaders under the scanner of central agencies. On Friday afternoon, an hour after the court verdict, senior party leaders gathered at the AAP office at Rouse Avenue in the national Capital and called the court decision to grant Sisodia bail a “victory of truth”.

Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Without any proof, any witnesses Manish Sisodia was arrested. The court has said that a game of snakes and ladders is going on in the country right now… the court had said that within six months the trial would begin but now we are in August and the trial has still not started. The court also said that if the trial did not begin within six to eight months then he should be granted bail. The court also said something very important: when it comes to bail, each and every citizen matters and that bail is a matter of personal right. Do our High Court and lower courts not understand this?”

Sisodia is a founding member of AAP and a close confidant of party chief Arvind Kejriwal. Earlier this year, during a hearing in the Rouse Avenue Court, the CBI said that during questioning Kejriwal had said Sisodia was the one who recommended privatisation of liquor stores in the city under the now-scrapped excise policy. The AAP saw this as an attempt to create a misunderstanding between its top two leaders, with Kejriwal saying in court, “I did not make any statement that Manish Sisodia is guilty. Manish Sisodia is absolutely innocent. Their aim is to defame us. I told the CBI yesterday that these are absurd allegations.”

According to sources, while he was out on interim bail, Kejriwal and his wife went to meet Sisodia’s family away from the media glare. Sisodia has stayed by Kejriwal’s side, even as several other former party leaders have fallen away, calling the Delhi CM a dictator. This includes Kumar Vishwas, who has not resigned from AAP but has become a vocal critic. Vishwas was close friends with Sisodia and his family before the falling out.

Known as a leader who can calm troubled waters, Sisodia served as the much-needed push to several projects and policies even when the bureaucracy was less than forgiving with other ministers. This, however, will be the first time that Sisodia does not return to the government. He has been a Deputy CM thrice now: first during the 49-day AAP government in 2013-14, in 2015 and again in 2020.

With the Assembly elections expected to be held next February, his primary role will be to ensure that there are boots on the ground and that MLAs are not lured away.

Family members celebrate after the Supreme Court granted bail to AAP leader Manish Sisodia. (Photo: PTI)

“Organisationally, AAP has suffered over the past four months. After Arvind Kejriwal was arrested, there have been murmurs of discontent within. This has only risen since the AAP contested Lok Sabha polls alongside Congress but did not win a single seat. There is also a lot of disillusionment because the MLAs are not able to fulfil promises made to the people because of the hurdles being raised by the office of the L-G and the bureaucracy. While there is not much Manish ji can do about the latter, organisationally his release is very valuable,” said an AAP insider.

Sisodia’s and AAP’s troubles are far from over, though. In granting him bail, the court said that it did not see any error in the order of the trial court or the High Court in considering the merits of the case but was granting him bail as there was “not the remotest possibility of the trial concluding in near future”.

This means that bail has only been granted because the trial had not started even though Sisodia remained in jail for nearly 18 months.