The Aam Aadmi Party Sunday slammed the BJP, claiming that it was "afraid" of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's "rising popularity" as his deputy Manish Sisodia appeared before the CBI for questioning in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
Claiming that CBI will arrest Sisodia despite the charges against him being "false", AAP leaders also alleged that the BJP was trying to intimidate them.
"The BJP is trying to silence and intimidate AAP leaders through false cases, raids and arrests. The CBI is trying to bring down Sisodia based on false charges," senior AAP leader and MLA Atishi claimed.
Asserting that the charges against Sisodia were "false", she said the BJP should prove the corruption allegations it was levelling against the AAP. "The AAP is a staunchly honest party and the BJP's fear was visible to everyone today. The whole country saw that the BJP is afraid of the increasing popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party in the country," Atishi said.
AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed the CBI will arrest Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, adding the BJP was trying to "weaken Delhi's education model" since it was "scared" of Arvind Kejriwal. "The allegations against him are ridiculous. If someone had taken a bribe of Rs 10,000 crore, as claimed by the CBI, the money would have been found somewhere," he said. The AAP's Delhi Convenor and Environment Minister Gopal Rai said several party workers of AAP were on their way to Rajghat to express their support for Sisodia, but they were detained by the Delhi Police.
Police detained 50 people, including AAP MP Sanjay Singh and Rai, protesting near the CBI office where Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is being questioned in the Delhi excise policy scam case. Police said section 144 CrPC has been imposed in the area.
"It is very unfortunate that the prime minister is afraid of Arvind Kejriwal and therefore all these preparations have been made to arrest Sisodia," Rai alleged.
Sanjay Singh accused the Centre of defaming the Delhi education minister through false allegations.
"The BJP-led Centre has sold the entire country to Adani, from coal to electricity, water, road, cement, steel, seaports and airports. They gave Adani a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh crore and waived the loan of Rs 84,000 crore. They cannot take action against Adani, but are willing to act against Sisodia," he said. Senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah accused the BJP of "selectively targeting" the AAP leaders and "suppressing their achievements".
"The BJP sees AAP as its main challenger. They want to limit the AAP to Delhi alone. The truth will eventually come out, no matter how much the BJP tries to suppress it.
"In contrast, the BJP is no longer targeting Rahul Gandhi and the Congress as they want a weak Congress party to remain their main political challenge," Shah claimed.
Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Delhi Cabinet, arrived at the heavily-barricaded CBI office in the national capital on Sunday after paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat.
He was originally summoned last Sunday but had sought deferment of his questioning citing the Budget exercise, following which the CBI had asked him to appear on February 26.
Sisodia, the accused number one in the CBI FIR in the case, was earlier questioned on October 17, a month before the agency filed its charge sheet on November 25 last year.
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