AAP, BJP spar over Delhi HC order on excise policy case

The directions by the Delhi High Court to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, senior leader Manish Sisodia, and 21 others seeking their response to the plea challenging their discharge in the excise policy case sparked a heated exchange in the Capital.

The directions by the Delhi High Court to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, senior leader Manish Sisodia, and 21 others seeking their response to the plea challenging their discharge in the excise policy case sparked a heated exchange in the Capital.

The Bharatiya Janata Party said AAP had been quick to celebrate the trial court order and that the question of the AAP leaders’ involvement in the alleged scam will now be examined by the High Court.

In response, AAP said that although the High Court had sought responses to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea, it had not stayed the February 27 order discharging its leaders.

“I was defamed, I was sent to jail, and my family and party were subjected to persecution, yet we never lost faith in truth and justice,” said Mr. Sisodia. He added, “God is watching who is on the right path and who is on the wrong path, and Narendra Modi is not god.”

The case, which stems from a complaint lodged by then Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena over “irregularities” in the framing and implementation of the Delhi excise policy for 2021-22, resulted in Mr. Kejriwal and two other AAP leaders — Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh — spending months in jail.

Addressing mediapersons, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood alleged that AAP leaders had tried to destroy key pieces of evidence, including 170 cell phones and 43 SIM cards, to “conceal wrongdoing” in the excise policy case.