As soon as the CBI called AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning on April 16 regarding an alleged liquor policy fraud, the BJP stepped up its criticism of him. At a news conference, the head of the Delhi BJP, Virendra Sachdeva, accused Kejriwal of being the scam’s mastermind and claimed that soon, the “three friends” Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Satyendar Jain will share a barrack in Tihar jail.
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22 was abandoned by the Kejriwal administration shortly after LG VK Saxena urged a CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in its execution in July 2022. Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister of Delhi who served as excise minister under the Kejriwal administration, was detained by the CBI in February in connection with the case. Sisodia is still being held in detention by the court in the same case. On February 26, 2023, the CBI detained Sisodia in connection with the liquor policy case. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.
Following his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case, Satyendar Jain, a former health minister in the Kejriwal administration, has also been imprisoned for nearly a year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has come under fire from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has said that its “fight against corruption” will continue. AAP leader Atishi claimed that despite the summons from the CBI, Arvind Kejriwal has been speaking out against corruption. Arvind Kejriwal, the mayor of Delhi, is the only figure speaking out against corruption; CBI summonses won’t stop him, according to Atishi.
The AAP dispensation has termed the probe by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the excise policy a “move by Modi government to obstruct good works of Delhi government in health and education sectors”.
“This is Aam Aami Party. This is Arvind Kejriwal, the man who gave the country, the model of education, health, water, and electricity. He worked tirelessly for the people of Delhi. He even left his job as an Income Tax commissioner to work for the nation. He sat on 13 days of hunger strike against corruption,” AAP leader Sanjay Singh said.
