Resignations to ensure Delhi can function: AAP

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 28

The resignations of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and his colleague Satyendar Jain, facing corruption charges, came as a surprise to many given their timing, but were imminent considering the level of Sisodia’s involvement in governance and party functioning.

It would have become impossible for CM Arvind Kejriwal to run Delhi without reallocating 18 of the 33 departments Sisodia handled, unlike what was done when Jain was arrested in May 2022. Jain’s Health, Power and PWD portfolios were shifted to Sisodia.

Today’s resignations also come amid possibilities that the Enforcement Directorate (ED), already probing the excise policy scam, may seek Sisodia’s remand once his CBI custody ends.

In ED cases, which are far more stringent under the law, securing bail is more difficult. That explains why Jain, facing money laundering charges by the ED, has not got bail for months.

Though AAP sought to present the twin resignations as “moves to ensure that Delhi’s development under Kejriwal does not suffer,” the BJP went for the jugular demanding CM’s resignation.

For the BJP, the resignations bring back a sense of déjà vu when in 2013, three top UPA ministers (A Raja, Pawan Bansal and Ashwani Kumar) resigned one after the other, laying ground for Congress’ exit over graft in the 2014 General Election.

For Kejriwal, in contrast, the timing of resignations could not have been worse as these come ahead of his planned visits to poll-bound Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on March 4, 5, 13 and 14, respectively, and his 2024 Lok Sabha plans as well.

The BJP did not waste time in seeking Kejriwal’s resignation. “Kejriwal holds no portfolio but he makes his ministers do illegal things so that they go to jail when the law catches up. As CM, the buck stops with him,” party’s IT head Amit Malviya said.

With CBI sources claiming a “watertight case against Sisodia” and “money trail of Rs 100 crore from South to North”, the BJP today went all guns blazing against AAP, saying a party whose leaders “went around distributing certificates of honesty to others had today shamed the legacy of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare”.

The BJP now plans a nationwide campaign on corruption against AAP, with plans to also take on Bharat Rashtra Samithi chief and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha, already under ED scanner in the Delhi excise case.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad cited reports to ask why Sisodia changed 16 phones and deleted evidence, as alleged.

Sisodia dismissed the charges against him as false noting. “Even if I want, I can never do anything wrong,” he said. “These allegations are nothing but conspiracies of people who fear Kejriwal’s politics of truth. The target of the conspiracy is Kejriwal, not me because people not just in Delhi but across India see in Kejriwal a leader with a vision for India and the capacity to transform people’s lives,” he said.

2 new ministers on way; Gahlot, Anand get interim charge

Facing a governance crisis, the AAP on Tuesday said it would induct two new ministers. However, the names of the new faces have not been finalised yet. For the time being, the Delhi Government has allotted eight of 18 portfolios held by Manish Sisodia to Kailash Gahlot and the remaining to Raaj Kumar Anand in addition to their existing departments. TNS

Charges not true

Resignations to ensure Delhi can function well, no way does this mean corruption allegations are true. — Sanjay Singh, AAP

Reeks of corruption

AAP conduct reeks of cuts, commissions and corruption. This is a textbook case of rampant corruption. — Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP leader

Flagged issue: Former L-G

During the implementation of the new excise policy, I had flagged the unlawful decisions taken by Delhi Government. Anil Baijal, former L-G

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