Excise policy case | CBI raids a ‘part of a script’ to stop Arvind Kejriwal, says Manish Sisodia

Day after CBI raid, Manish Sisodia says 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be a fight between PM Modi and Kejriwal

August 20, 2022 01:03 pm | Updated 01:26 pm IST

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia addresses the media at his Mathura road residence, in New Delhi, on August 20, 2022.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia addresses the media at his Mathura road residence, in New Delhi, on August 20, 2022. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

A day after the CBI, alleging irregularities in Delhi’s excise policy 2021-22, filed FIR against 15 persons, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, as accused and conducted searches at his premises, Mr. Sisodia alleged that the raid was a “part of a script to stop Arvind Kejriwal”.

“It is not a coincidence that his Health and Education Ministers are being mired in this because the Delhi models of health and education are being talked about worldwide,” the Deputy CM said. “They have put our Health Minister behind bars and will put me in jail in a couple days too,” he alleged.

“The excise policy that has triggered all this was the best excise policy to have ever been formulated in the country,” Mr. Sisodia said, adding, “if the then LG had not made changes to it 48 hours before its implementation, the Delhi government would’ve been getting ₹10,000 crore in revenue from excise every year.”

“Everything being said against the policy is rubbish; no one wants to acknowledge that it was the best policy of its kind; the issue is different,” he alleged.

“In Gujarat, there is an annual theft of ₹10,000 crore in excise revenue, but the people who have ordered this raid against me will not get this investigated because they are the people who allow it,” Mr. Sisodia said. “The problem is not theft related to excise; the problem is Arvind Kejriwal and him being seen as a national alternative after our victory in Punjab,” he added.

“The difference between Kejriwal and Modi is that Kejriwal learns from people who are doing good work while Modi ji tries to stop anyone trying to do better work than him,” Mr. Sisodia alleged.

“Arvind Kejriwal thinks around the clock about solving the problems of the common man, Modi ji only thinks about how to topple governments with the Central agencies and wealth at his disposal,” Mr. Sisodia added.

“Till now, people used to ask if not Modi who? Now it has become clear that the answer to this is Kejriwal; the 2024 elections will be Kejriwal Vs. Modi” Mr. Sisodia said.

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