Sisodia and Jain are today’s Bhagat Singh, this is our second freedom struggle: Kejriwal

Anticipating the arrest of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who has been called for questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday in connection with the excise policy probe, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday called his government’s fight with the Centre the “second freedom struggle”.

The Chief Minister said Mr. Sisodia and Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain, who is in judicial custody in a money laundering case, are “today’s Bhagat Singh”.

Reacting to Mr. Kejriwal’s statement, the BJP said he should be “ashamed” of comparing his Ministers, who are under the scanner of law enforcement agencies, with freedom fighters.

‘Jail won’t deter us’

“Jail and hanging could not deter Bhagat Singh’s resolute intentions. This is the second fight for freedom. After 75 years, the country got an Education Minister [Sisodia] who gave quality education and hope of a bright future to the poor,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi. He was reacting to a tweet by Mr. Sisodia that said he had been summoned by the CBI for questioning.

“CBI raid was conducted at my house for 14 hours, nothing came out. Searched my bank locker, nothing came out in it. They did not find anything in my village. Now they have called me to CBI Headquarters at 11 am tomorrow. I will go and give my full cooperation. Satyameva Jayate,” Mr. Sisodia tweeted.

Mr. Sisodia, who also holds the excise portfolio, is facing corruption charges in the now-withdrawn Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022. In July, Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the policy.

15 named in FIR

The CBI lodged an FIR against Mr. Sisodia and 14 others in connection with the alleged scam. The agency has conducted multiple raids across the country and made several arrests, including AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair, liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru and Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally, among others.

Following the CBI summons, AAP claimed that Mr. Sisodia would be arrested after questioning on Monday as “the BJP does not want the senior leader to campaign” in the forthcoming Assembly election in Gujarat. “The move to arrest the Deputy Chief Minister has nothing to do with the excise policy. It’s about elections in Gujarat where AAP is in direct contest with the BJP and the people are talking about change,” said AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.

He added that the after the BJP made a “baseless claim” about a scam that there has been an alleged scam of ₹10,000 crore in the excise policy, the CBI-ED “raided 500 locations across the country but did not find a single strand of proof”.

BJP hits out

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused Mr. Sisodia of being a “corruption agent who was busy filling Mr. Kejriwal’s coffers”. “Arvind Kejriwal these days compares himself with God and his Ministers with freedom fighters. I want to tell him that he should be ashamed to do so as his corrupt Ministers are filling his coffers while Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for the country,” he said. He also accused AAP of playing “pressure politics” against probe agencies.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that AAP leaders have mastered the art of creating political scenes and melodrama. “Normally investigating agencies summon an accused in registered cases for investigation and it doesn’t mean that the accused will be arrested. On what grounds are the AAP leaders shouting that Sisodia will be arrested on Monday,” Mr. Kapoor asked. “It seems these leaders very well know that Sisodia is involved in the scam and that’s why they are shouting that he will be arrested,” he said.