Manish Sisodia Alleges He Was Pressured To Quit AAP During CBI Questioning

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has claimed that he was pressured to quit the Aam Aadmi Party and join.

The BJP today at the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation, where he was supposed to be questioned about Delhi government’s liquor policy. He said the officials had even suggested that in case of a switch, he would be offered the Chief Minister’s post. Sources in the agency called it a “blatant lie”.

“There was talk about excise policy but I was pressured to give in. ‘These cases will go on like this. They will make you CM,’ they said,” Mr Sisodia told reporters outside his residence.

“I told them that I find joy when a rickshaw puller’s son joins the IIT,” he said. “Today I understood that the CBI is not investigating any scam… the case against me is just meant to make Operation Lotus a success,” he said.

The officials had even cited the case against Delhi minister Satyender Jain to convince him, Mr Sisodia said. Mr Jain, accused in a money laundering case, has been in jail since his arrest in May.

In some relief to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which has been bracing for his arrest, the agency has not summoned the Deputy Chief Minister for a second session.

Mr Sisodia’s house was subject to multiple searches by the agency in August after it got a go-ahead for investigation from Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.

The Deputy Chief Minister is the prime accused in the case, which involves alleged kickbacks to political leaders by private players in exchange for liquor shop licenses.

AAP has declared that Mr Sisodia will now be arrested in what they termed “political vendetta” of the BJP. The party, AAP alleged, is “scared” about the outcome of the assembly election in Gujarat and wants to stop Mr Sisodia from campaigning in the state.

Party chief and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that the BJP plans to keep Mr Sisodia in jail till after the Gujarat elections. But no jail can keep his deputy in, he added. “Prison locks will break, Manish Sisodia will be free,” he tweeted in Hindi.

Earlier today, several AAP leaders, including MP Sanjay Singh, were detained after they held a massive protest against the questioning of Manish Sisodia. Around 100 leaders and workers were detained from outside the CBI office.