Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday used the occasion of Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary to speak out against the arrest of a little-known aide believed to wield tremendous clout in the party.

Mumbai-based event manager and music agent Vijay Nair was arrested by the CBI on Tuesday for its probe into alleged corruption in the allocation of liquor licences in Delhi through a policy of the AAP government that was scrapped in July. Despite holding no formal designation in the party, Nair has been described by the party leaders as their communications head. He has held informal briefings with reporters on the liquor policy.

Kejriwal said: “The whole country is marred by backbreaking inflation and unemployment, but all these people care about is slandering and crushing the AAP. Our landslide victories in Delhi and Punjab created a sense of fear in them. They know we are bound to win in Gujarat as well. Vijay Nair is an ordinary volunteer who handles the AAP's communication work. He did a fabulous job in the Punjab election and now, he was overseeing the Gujarat campaign, which is why he has been arrested. Vijay Nair was being threatened for several days to take (deputy chief minister) Manish Sisodia’s name during the investigation or else he’d be put behind the bars. These people have got rattled after seeing the AAP’s rising graph in Gujarat.”

Top AAP leaders spoke out against Nair’s arrest—a testament to his clout, which sources claim is from the donations he has been able to bring to the party and the way he has managed news channels.

The chief minister added: “In order to derail the AAP, (minister) Satyendar Jain, (MLA) Amanatullah Khan and Vijay Nair were arrested in frivolous cases. They are gearing up to arrest Manish Sisodia next week. These people will imprison every single worker of the AAP. If you are afraid of going to prison, you can quit the party today.”

Khan, who is also chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board got bail after almost a fortnight in custody in a graft case.

Kejriwal said in his webcast, “Today is the birth anniversary of Sardar Bhagat Singh and the nation is remembering him on this auspicious day. He made the supreme sacrifice for India’s freedom by accepting death with a smile on his face. We have to take inspiration from his sacrifice. This is no less than a modern-day fight for the freedom of this country and its people. Sardar Bhagat Singh fought against the British for our independence. We have to fight to free our country from these looters.

“The country should get rid of those who are openly trading MLAs across the country. They are shamelessly taking the taxpayers’ money out of the country. They looted the Bharatmata within 75 years more than the British could loot in 200 years. Earlier, there was another party and now, there is a different party. We have to save the country for them.”