Former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Tuesday dismissed the charges by the CBI in the excise policy scam against him as a “conspiracy of cowards and weak people”.
Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet within 48 hours of his arrest in the liquor scam. In his resignation letter to CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia made veiled attacks at the BJP and said the allegations of corruption have been levelled by those people who are ‘scared’ of Kejriwal’s politics.
“I worked for 8 years with honesty but now corruption allegations are levelled against me. I know God knows these allegations are false. This is nothing more than the conspiracy of those people who are scared of Kejriwal’s politics. You (Kejriwal) are their target, not me because people of the country are looking up to you as a leader who has a vision for the country.”
“Several FIRs have been registered against me and more are in the offing. They left no stone unturned to ensure that I leave you. I was threatened and even offered bribe, but I did not relent. As a result, they arrested me for not bowing before them… I am not scared of their jails and am not the first person to be arrested for following the path of truth. I have read countless stories of people who fought against the British and were jailed on false charges. Some were even hanged till death,” he said.
Sisodia said the people of the country who are battling poverty, unemployment, inflation and corruption see Arvind Kejriwal as a hope. “They don’t see him among the leaders who believe in ‘jumlas’ as Kejriwal does what he speaks,” he added.
The former minister said nobody in the world can neither force him to be corrupt nor compromise his integrity. “Even if I wish, I cannot force anyone to do corrupt deeds nor shirk my work,” he said.
The AAP leader, in the resignation letter, also cited lines of ‘Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna’ of an Urdu patriotic poem written by Bismil Azimabadi.
Sisodia’s Portfolios to be Handled by RK Anand, Kailash Gahlot
After Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia’s resignation from the Delhi cabinet, his portfolios of Finance, Planning, Public Works Department (PWD), Power, Home, Urban Development, Irrigation and Flood Control and Water have been handed over to Kailash Gahlot while the remaining departments will be handled by Raaj Kumar Anand.
Anand will have Education, Health Land & Building, Vigilance, Services, Tourism, Art, Culture & Language, Labour, Employment and Industries portfolios.
Sisodia was handling most of the workload taking charge of 18 departments-Education, Finance, Planning, Land and Building, Vigilance, Services, Tourism, Art, Culture and Language, Labour, Employment, Public Works Department, Health, Industries, Power, Home, Urban Development, Irrigation and Flood Control and Water.
Gahlot is the minister for Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs, Transport, Administrative Reforms, Information & Technology, Revenue, Women and Child Development and Anand was handling SC & ST, Social Welfare and Cooperative departments.
Satyendar Jain, who was arrested in May last year by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, also resigned from the cabinet. Jain continued to be a minister in the Delhi government even after his arrest but without any portfolio. His portfolios, including health, home and urban development, had been handed over to Sisodia.
Sisodia Arrested, Sent to 5-day CBI Custody
Sisodia was arrested by the CBI Sunday evening in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22. A special Delhi court on Monday sent Sisodia to five-day CBI remand in the excise policy case to allow the agency to get “genuine and legitimate” answers to questions being put to him for “a proper and fair investigation.”
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