The tremors of CBI raids at the residence of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in relation to Delhi Government’s excise policy were felt some 200 kms away in Punjab on Friday.
While the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came out in support of its senior leader, the opposition parties lashed out at AAP while demanding probe into Punjab’s excise policy too.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, describing Sisodia as the “best education minister of Independent India”, said that the CBI raid at the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister's residence was the reward for the Delhi Government's good performance being appreciated globally.
“Manish Sisodia is the best education minister of Independent India. Today, the largest US newspaper NYT printed his photo on the front page. And today Modi ji sent CBI to his house. How will India progress like this?” Mann said in a tweet in Hindi.
Notably, the CBI on Friday carried out searches at 21 locations in Delhi-NCR, including Sisodia's residence, after registering an FIR in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
Other ministers in the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab too attacked the BJP-led Centre after the CBI raid at Sisodia's house. “The Day no. 1 Newspaper of the no. 1 country in the world recognises Delhi govt's Education Model & @msisodia ji as best education minister ever. Same Morning CBI is sent to Manish ji' house by Shameless BJP. It proves BJP doesn't want India to have perfect govt Schools,” tweeted Punjab’s School Education and Jails Minister Harjot Singh Bains.
The state’s Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra said: “Today the largest newspaper in the US, NYT, printed his photo on the front page. And today Modi ji sent the CBI to his house...”.
Opposition attacks
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa took a dig at AAP in the wake of CBI raids. “Now Manish Sisodia is under the CBI scanner for making a fortune from the new excise policy in Delhi that has now been withdrawn! For a party that claims to be clean, its big leaders seem to be continuously caught in cases of corruption,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, he said: “The AAP must take stock and recognise that it has a corruption problem and start dealing with it in-house before pointing fingers at others.”
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also tweeted, “Reaping the whirlwind. What you sow, so shall you reap. AAP crying wolf over CBI raids on Manish Sisodia residence over liquor licensing bungling, lacks moral authority. You have been using Vigilance Deptt against Congress leaders on flimsy grounds.”
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, lashing out at the party, said that skeletons in AAP closets will tumble out. Majithia linked the Delhi Government’s “now abandoned excise policy” to the one being followed in Punjab, which too has an Aam Aadmi Party government.
“Skeletons are likely to tumble out of cupboards as the flawed monopolistic Delhi excise policy was implemented in Punjab also,” said Majithia at Baba Bakala.
Congress MLA Pargat Singh demanded probe into Punjab’s excise policy as it was prepared on the lines of Delhi. “CBI raids and investigations against Delhi Deputy CM @msisodia for the controversial Delhi excise policy should also include the recent Punjab excise policy which was passed at the behest of Mr. Sisodia. Let us wait for all the facts to emerge out,” he tweeted.
In the mean time, All India Kisan Congress and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira “exposed” the fake claim of AAP and its two Chief Ministers — Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann — that New York Times had done a “front page” story on Delhi Education model.
Circulating the “original front page copies” of the New York Times along with the “photoshoped” copies circulated by Kejriwal and Mann on various social media platforms, Khaira said: “It is shocking and shameful that an elected Chief Minister like Kejriwal should go on record saying that the New York Times had done a story on Delhi education model on its front page, which it never did.”
The Congress leader said that the US paper had done a story on the Delhi education model on inside pages a few days ago. “Apparently to play it big, Kejriwal and his team went around claiming that it to be the front page news story which it was not and without realizing that many more people also do read US newspapers and who have exposed their lie”, he said.
Khaira observed that making such a false claim knowingly and that too by the Chief Ministers reveals as to what extent they can stoop in circulating lies. “You have every right to defend your Deputy Chief Minister against the CBI raids, but why try to defend him by speaking lies?” he asked, while remarking, “you are only exposing yourself and weakening your case, which otherwise also is weak as you have already withdrawn the policy after LG recommended the CBI probe”.
The Congress leader said that NYT had done a story on inside pages in its August 17 issue, while the AAP circulated photoshopped copies of August 18, showing it on the front page.