AAP members on Thursday protested in large numbers in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai against the arrest of MP Sanjay Singh by the Enforcement Directorate.
A Delhi court on Thursday sent Singh to five days’ ED custody in the liquor policy case. The MP argued in court that he was being framed by the agency that had turned a former accused, liquor dealer Dinesh Arora, into a prosecution witness who has now implicated him.
In the capital, police used force to disperse AAP supporters who attempted to breach the barricades to reach the BJP Central Office to protest. All Delhi ministers, elected representatives except chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and party office-bearers took part in the protest.
In Mumbai, party workers were detained as they defied the police who had disallowed their protest. In Chandigarh, water cannons were used to disperse a wave of AAP cadres in yellow turbans. Smaller protests took place in almost all state capitals.
An AAP source told The Telegraph that Singh was the party’s main interlocutor with other parties. “(Rajya Sabha MP) Raghav Chadha has indicated that he can fill in for Sanjayji in the campaign committee of the INDIA bloc if bail is delayed. The party also wants to elevate (Delhi minister) Saurabh Bharadwaj to a national role in inter-party communication. Right now, however, this is not a priority.”
With former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and now Singh, in jail, the party would have an uphill task of keeping its flock together and defending its turf in next year’s Lok Sabha polls. Singh’s term as MP ends in January and if he remains behind bars like Sisodia, the AAP would need to look for a replacement.
Kejriwal reminded reporters that no agency had recovered a paisa related to the alleged liquor scam. “Today, Sanjay Singh is the loudest voice in this country against Modiji’s corruption…. Tomorrow, when their government will no longer be there and they will be investigated, we will see how many corruption cases will emerge,” he said.
Kejriwal added: “Modiji could not tolerate this, so first he got him suspended from Parliament, and now this…. He is frustrated with the INDIA alliance and mark my words, more will be arrested before 2024.”
The controversial liquor policy under which Delhi PSUs exited the booze trade lasted eight months until it was withdrawn last July after lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena sought a CBI probe.
In the Rouse Avenue court of special judge M.K. Nagpal, PTI quoted Singh as saying: “Sir, (co-accused) Amit Arora gave tens of statements, Dinesh Arora gave several statements, but they did not remember my name. I’m not that unknown that they forgot my name. Now they have suddenly remembered…. There’s no separate law. I was not summoned even once. Why a different law for me?”
He denied the ED’s claim that he had received Rs 2 crore from Dinesh Arora.
