New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenants Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, both arrested on corruption charges, resigned from the Cabinet on Tuesday.
Kejriwal has accepted the resignations of the two leaders, who played a pivotal role in implementing his governance agenda of good education and health facilities in the national capital, according to officials.
The opposition BJP had been demanding the resignation of Jain after his arrest in May last year by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
Sisodia too faced the heat after his name cropped up in the excise policy scam in August 2022. He was arrested by the CBI on Sunday evening in connection with the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22.
A special CBI court on Monday sent Sisodia to five-day CBI custody for questioning. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a bail plea filed by him.
A top court bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha said observed that just because the incident has happened in Delhi, Sisodia cannot come to the apex court directly as he has his remedies before the trial court concerned as well as the Delhi High Court.
Sisodia, who was the deputy chief minister, was holding the charge of 18 out of 33 departments of the Delhi government, including health, finance, education and home.
Official sources said Sisodia’s portfolios would be allotted to Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot and Social Welfare Minister Raj Kumar Anand for now, but it is a temporary arrangement.
Gahlot is likely to present the Delhi Budget next month, they said.
Addressing a press conference, AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said two new ministers will be appointed very soon.
“The Cabinet in Delhi is quite small and most of the important departments were handled by Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia. In order to avoid lagging behind in terms of work, two new ministers will be appointed,” he said.
Jain continued to be a minister in the Delhi government even after his arrest but without any portfolio. His portfolios, including health, home and urban development, had been handed over to Sisodia.
Sources in the AAP said MLAs Atishi, Dilip Pandey, Durgesh Pathak and Saurabh Bhardwaj are front runners to replace Sisodia and Jain.
Gahlot is already in charge of six departments, including revenue and transport, while Raj Kumar Anand has four portfolios.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai has only three departments, while Imran Hussain is in charge of only two departments — food and civil supplies, and election.
Sisodia’s workload had almost doubled after Jain’s arrest, and he was handling most of the crucial departments of the city government.
Both Sisodia and Jain have led what the AAP describes as the “successful transformation” of Delhi’s education and health services, contributing to the party’s popularity and continued electoral success.
In his three-page resignation, Sisodia said a conspiracy has been hatched based on false and baseless allegations.
Without naming anyone, he said those behind the conspiracy crossed all limits and put him in jail, and hence, he did not wish to continue as a minister.
“These allegations, in reality, are nothing but a conspiracy by those weak and coward people who are scared of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of truth.
“I am not their target but their target is Aam Aadmi Party. This is because not only Delhi but the entire country is seeing you as a leader with a vision for the nation and implementation of that vision could bring huge changes in the lives of people,” Sisodia wrote.
The BJP had stepped up its attack on the AAP following Sisodia’s arrest and had been demanding his sacking, along with that of Jain, from the Delhi Cabinet.
“BJP’s struggle has borne fruits. We had been demanding that Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain would have to resign and also go to jail. And out of embarrassment, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had to accept their resignations. This is a victory of BJP workers, a victory of truth,” Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said.
“Liquor scam has happened with your complicity and right under your nose. You are responsible for it. Our struggle, demanding Kejriwal’s resignation, will continue,” he added.
The Congress said Sisodia has been arrested in an “open-and-shut case of corruption”, and demanded that Kejriwal should be arrested too for his involvement in the liquor scam.
Congress leader and former Union minister Ajay Maken said those who formed their party on the anti-corruption plank should answer questions posed on the excise policy, which was formed in complete contradiction of the recommendations of the committee set up by them.
“This is an open-and-shut case of corruption and a big scam has happened in Delhi and it should be viewed accordingly,” he said.
In the AAP-led Punjab government led by Bhagwant Mann, party leader Fauja Singh Sarari had resigned as a minister last month, after his name came up in a case of devising an extortion plan.
Earlier, Vijay Singla was dropped from the Cabinet on corruption charges.
On Monday, AAP leaders and workers held protests in several states against the arrest of Sisodia by the CBI, with the party alleging that it was done to divert public attention from the Adani issue.
Sisodia’s arrest, one of the high-profile actions against an opposition leader, came about eight months after that of Satyendar Jain, who was then the Delhi health minister, in June last year. PTI SLB/ABU KND SSH SKC BUN IJT
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