Arvind Kejriwal vs Narendra Modi in 2024, people are fed up: Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia

NEW DELHI: A day after his residence and office were raided by the CBI, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia claimed on Saturday that there had been no scam in Excise Policy 2021-22 and the BJP was making these allegations only to stop Arvind Kejriwal, who was emerging as an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a press conference at his residence, Sisodia claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be a battle between Kejriwal and Modi. “It will be AAP vs BJP in 2024. People are fed up with Modi using ED and CBI and toppling opposition governments in states. They want to give Kejriwal a chance in 2024,” he said.
He added that the difference between Kejriwal and Modi was that the former always has poor people on his mind while the latter thinks about his select friends. “Kejriwal appreciates people who do good work but Modi only dreams of making state governments fall using central agencies like CBI and ED. This does not suit a Prime Minister who has got the people's mandate,” Sisodia said.
Perhaps, to give an appearance of business as usual, Kejriwal tweeted on Saturday afternoon that he and Sisodia were going to Gujarat on a two-day visit to promise better education and healthcare if elected to power. The assembly elections in the state are due later this year.
Asserting that AAP was not scared of the BJP’s pressure tactics, Sisodia said they were “sons of Bhagat Singh and won't kneel down before ED or CBI”. He added: “No offer from BJP can ever buy us. The BJP may be the richest party but AAP’s honesty doesn’t come with a price tag,” he said, reiterating that there had been no “wrongdoing” in the excise policy.
Speaking to reporters, the deputy CM alleged that the contentious excise policy was not an issue and the BJP-led Centre was worried over the growing popularity of Kejriwal and the people’s love for him, especially after the Punjab elections, and were using all possible measures to stop him.
“The talk about corruption in the excise policy is all nonsense. If the excise policy was an issue, CBI and ED would have been conducting raids in the dry state of Gujarat where excise duty of Rs 10,000 crore is being evaded (with supply of illicit liquor) or on those who wasted Rs 14,000 crores on the Bundelkhand expressway that collapsed five days after PM Modi inaugurated it. They want to stop the good work being done in the education and health sectors,” Sisodia said.
“They first arrested Satyendar Jain, who was holding charge of the health portfolio, and I will also be arrested in the next couple of days,” he added.
Terming Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 as the “best”, Sisodia claimed the government would have earned Rs 10,000 crore every year if former LG (Anil Baijal) had not changed his stand and imposed certain conditions just two days before the opening of the shops on November 17, 2021.
Flashing a copy of the FIR, Sisodia claimed there was no mention of any scam of Rs 8,000 crore or Rs 1,100 crore as alleged by different BJP leaders. “The CBI has mentioned that as per sources there was a scam of Rs 1 crore,” he claimed.