New Delhi: The Delhi BJP staged a protest Thursday, blocking traffic at Delhi’s ITO near the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) headquarters, demanding the sacking and prosecution of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a snooping case that allegedly involved the Feedback Unit (FBU) of the Arvind Kejriwal government. The protesters also demanded a probe into Chief Minister Kejriwal’s possible role in the case.
The protesters set afire Sisodia’s effigies, filled police vans, and climbed over their roofs while waving the party flag. They also stopped Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi’s official vehicle while sloganeering against the Delhi government.
“It has been proven that Sisodia was snooping on BJP members, but he hasn’t been arrested yet. We demand that Chief Minister Kejriwal sack Sisodia,” Kaushal Mishra, Delhi chief of BJP’s Purvanchal Morcha, said to ThePrint.
“Numerous scams have been unearthed from time to time, but Kejriwal hasn’t taken any action against any of his ministers. Even (Satyendar) Jain hasn’t been sacked from his position,” Mishra added.
Jain has been jailed for alleged money laundering in a 2017 case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“The way they’re setting up a unit to snoop on members of the BJP and their own party is illegal, and they’re disregarding democracy. This should be immediately stopped,” said Santosh Ojha, general president of the BJP’s Purvanchal Morcha.
“We demand that Manish Sisodia should resign immediately. If he doesn’t resign, we’ll get on the roads and keep protesting until he relents,” said Dheeren Choudhary, social media head of OBC Morcha Delhi BJP.
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What’s the case
Earlier this month, the CBI said that it found during a preliminary inquiry that the FBU set up by the Delhi government to keep corruption in check allegedly collected “political intelligence”, and recommended that an FIR be registered against Sisodia, who is in charge of the Delhi vigilance department.
The Union home ministry said Wednesday that sanction to prosecute Sisodia was granted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the same had been communicated to the principal secretary to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor.
“The Aam Aadmi Party dispensation had proposed setting up the FBU in 2015 to gather relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of the various departments and autonomous bodies, institutions and entities falling under the jurisdiction of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and also to do trap cases,” the CBI said.
Reacting to the home ministry’s nod to prosecute him, Sisodia tweeted in Hindi, “Filing bogus cases against one’s rivals is a sign of a weak and cowardly person.” He added that more frivolous cases will be filed as the AAP marches ahead.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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