Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia arrived at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters for questioning in the liquor policy case on Sunday around 11 am after a superheated send-off by AAP sympathisers.
Key Highlights Of The Story :
- Mr Sisodia left his home just before 10 am, standing out of the sunroof of his car and leading a roadshow of AAP sympathisers who gestured posters and cried taglines. He visited Mahatma Gandhi’s keepsake at Delhi’s Rajghat and also delivered a speech. Numerous AAP leaders said they’ve been put under house arrest because the CBI will arrest Manish Sisodia.
- “Do not feel sorry for me, instead be proud of me. Indeed I’m in jail for 7-8 months, I’m a follower of Bhagat Singh”, said Manish Sisodia.
- PM Narendra Modi is hysterical about Arvind Kejriwal, so he wants to frame me in a fake case. You should fight on. My wife, who has stood by me from Day 1, is bad and alone at home. Take care of her. And I want to tell children of Delhi, study hard and listen to your parents,” Mr Sisodia told sympathisers.
- Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted for the same on his official Twitter handle saying “God and wishes of the public are with you Manish. When you go to jail for the country and society, it isn’t a curse, it’s a glory. I supplicate to God that you return from jail soon. Children, parents and all of us in Delhi will be staying for you.”
- The CBI had preliminarily called Mr Sisodia for questioning on February 19. The Aam Aadmi Party( AAP) leader, who’s also Delhi’s Finance Minister, still sought a week’s time for making the Delhi Budget. The CBI agreed to his request. Mr Sisodia and others face corruption allegations in bringing a new liquor trade policy into the public capital.
- Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had ordered the CBI inquiry last time. The Delhi government regressed to the old liquor policy and criticised the Lieutenant Governor for loss of profit worth crores of rupees.
- The BJP said the Delhi government went back to the old liquor trade policy to cover up corruption in the excise department held by Mr Sisodia. The CBI has named seven indicted in the liquor policy case chargesheet, which has no citation of Mr Sisodia.
- The CBI has said it’s fastening on the alleged influence of a “South Lobby” of businessmen and politicians making the Delhi liquor policy swing in their favour using mediators, dealers and functionaries.
- Lately, the CBI arrested Butchibabu Gorantla, a former chartered accountant of K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and son of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The AAP contended the BJP at the centre was behind the Lieutenant Governor’s decision to shoot the CBI after Mr Sisodia.
- The liquor policy case soon set up itself on top of the long list of disunion points between the AAP and the Lieutenant Governor, by extension the centre. The most recent illustration of the disunion between the Lieutenant Governor and the AAP was when the Supreme Court agreed to the AAP’s request that members of Delhi’s communal body nominated by the Lieutenant Governor can not bounce in the mayoral election.
- Indeed before the mayoral election, back in November last time, Arvind Kejriwal had contended that the centre, with the Lieutenant Governor working as a deputy, wanted to harm the AAP’s election crusade in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP had swept the seats.