NEW DELHI: Hours after the Supreme Court refused to entertain Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s petition challenging his arrest by the CBI in the liquor policy scam, he and other incarcerated colleague Satyendar Jain resigned as ministers in the AAP government.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted the resignations. In a late-night announcement, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot was given additional charge of finance, PWD, power and home held by Sisodia. The outgoing deputy CM’s other portfolios like education, health and services were allotted to Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand as additional charge.
“The work of Delhi should not be interrupted, so Kejriwal accepted the resignations,” said AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh. Sisodia’s resignation came a couple of days after his arrest while Jain put in his papers almost eight months after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case related to money laundering.
Sisodia was handling 18 of the total 33 departments of the Delhi government. He was directly monitoring several critical government projects, including streetscaping and traffic decongestion plans, ahead of the G20 summit. He was also the administrative face of the government.
In the SC, when counsel A M Singhvi mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha, they said Sisodia has alternative remedies for getting the FIR quashed under Section 482 CrPC. He can also apply for bail in a lower court, the bench said. “Just because an incident happens in Delhi doesn’t mean we are approached. It will set a very wrong precedent,” Justice Narasimha said.
Singhvi argued that “The allegation is that there was policy decision taken where he (Sisodia) was one rung out of the seven, including the L-G. Power of arrest does not mean compulsion to arrest.”
Blow to AAP national expansion?
Sisodia’s arrest and resignation could affect the AAP’s national expansion plans ahead of the 2024 LS polls. The BJP hopes it will tie down Kejriwal to Delhi and Punjab