New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is being probed for alleged financial irregularities in the state’s liquor policy said Monday that the BJP offered to drop all charges against him if he joined their party.
A defiant Sisodia tweeted: “My reply to BJP – I am a Rajput, a descendant of Maharana Pratap. I will get my head cut off but will not bow down in front of conspirators and corrupt people. All cases against me are false. Do what you want to do.”
मेरे पास भाजपा का संदेश आया है- “आप” तोड़कर भाजपा में आ जाओ, सारे CBI ED के केस बंद करवा देंगे
मेरा भाजपा को जवाब- मैं महाराणा प्रताप का वंशज हूँ, राजपूत हूँ। सर कटा लूँगा लेकिन भ्रष्टाचारियो-षड्यंत्रकारियोंके सामने झुकूँगा नहीं। मेरे ख़िलाफ़ सारे केस झूठे हैं।जो करना है कर लो
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) August 22, 2022
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday raided 21 homes including that of Manish Sisodia in its ongoing probe into the capital’s revamped liquor policy which has since been withdrawn.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has been accused of “deliberate and gross procedural lapses” in the Excise Policy 2021-22, prompting Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena to recommend a CBI probe on 22 July.
A CBI source had told ThePrint: “It is suspected that undue financial favours were granted to vendors by waiving the license fee, using the excuse of business being hit by the pandemic… This caused losses of over Rs 140 crore to the state. It is also alleged that kickbacks were received in exchange of favours and the money was then used in the Punjab elections. All the allegations are being probed.”
The next day Sisodia told the media the “issue was not of the liquor or excise scam”. “Their problem is Arvind Kejriwal… whole proceedings against me, raids at my residence and office, are to stop Arvind Kejriwal… I haven’t done any corruption. I’m just Arvind Kejriwal’s Education Minister.”
He added the CBI would probably arrest him soon, “but we won’t be scared, you won’t be able to break us… elections of 2024 will be AAP vs BJP”.
On the “controversial” excise policy, Sisodia said: “The excise policy due to which the whole controversy is created is the country’s best policy. We were applying it with transparency and sincerity. Had Delhi Lieutenant Governor not changed his decision to make the policy fail, the Delhi government would have got at least Rs 10,000 cr every year.”
Also read: CEO of company which managed AIB shows, liquor barons among 15 named in Delhi ‘excise fraud’ FIR
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