NEW DELHI: Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's residence being raided by the CBI in connection with the ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy on Friday morning prompted a series of backlash from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with Sisodia initially saying the investigative agency is "welcome" to do so. At the same time, the BJP has been protesting against the policy levelled corruption charges against the AAP-led government.
"We welcome CBI. Will give full cooperation in the investigation so that the truth can come out soon. Till now, many cases have been filed against me, but nothing has come out. Nothing will come out of it either. My work for a good education in the country cannot be stopped,” Sisodia said in a tweet in Hindi.
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He added, “It is very unfortunate that those who do good work in our country are harassed like this. That is why our country has not yet become No 1."
Incidentally, the raid happened on a day when the New York Times published on the front page of its international edition of the overhaul of government schools in Delhi by the AAP government.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal reacting to the CBI raid tweeted: “On a day when the Delhi education model is praised and Manish Sisodia’s picture is printed on the front page of America’s largest newspaper, NYT, the Centre sends CBI to his house."
He further said that the good work being done by the Delhi government will not stop despite these hurdles being created by the Central government to halt this development works in the capital.
Outside Sisodia's residence at Mathura Road, a beeline of press reporters, television channel vans and cabs could be seen right from the morning, as the news broke.
Also, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann pitched in to describe Sisodia as the best education minister of Independent India and that this CBI raid was a reward for the AAP government's good governance receiving accolades across the globe.
"Manish Sisodia is the best education minister of Independent India. Today the largest US newspaper NYT printed his photo on the front page. And today Modi ji sent CBI to his house. How will India progress like this?" Mann said in a tweet in Hindi.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the Congress alleging big-time corruption in the liquor policy slammed the AAP for making"false" claims of honesty.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor in a statement said Aam Aadmi Party should stop diverting the issue and tell Delhi why it had to withdraw its Excise Policy if it was clean.?
"AAP government has made thousands of crores through Excise Policy and now when time has come to rely on it Arvind Kejriwal & Company is trying to feign ignorance. Time has come for Manish Sisodia to share a room with Satyendra Jain in Tihar," said Kapoor.
Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary said that the CBI has registered a case against Delhi deputy CM Sisodia in the liquor scam. "The Congress had fought from the road to the investigating agency to prevent Delhi from becoming a drug capital," he said.