As the Aam Aadmi Party went into festive mode after Manish Sisodia was granted bail recently in the excise policy case, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Bansuri Swaraj tore into the order. She said that the bail had not been awarded on merit but because of how the judicial process got delayed.
Addressing a news conference after the Apex Court granted him bail, Swaraj said it was the eighth attempt from Sisodia's legal team to get him bail.
Swaraj attacked AAP leadership for misleading the people of Delhi through its leadership by describing Sisodia as a "hero" despite remaining in jail, also terming the bail as "expected relief" and warned against reading too much into it.
"Getting bail obviously doesans not mean that he is cleared of the charges; he is still the mai accused in the case pertaining to the liquor policy and he has to face the court," Swaraj said.
She also criticized Sisodia's legal team for not citing any merit in the case and only procedural lapses. The long bail, coming after 17 months of incarceration, speaks volumes about the seriousness of charges and his alleged involvement in the liquor scam.
The chargesheet also mentioned that the charges against Sisodia include the destruction of more than 170 mobile phones on his directions. The trial court had prima facie found him to be the mastermind behind the Delhi liquor scam, while the Supreme Court found chancy financial transactions to the tune of nearly Rs 338 crore.
Reacting to AAP MP Raghav Chadha's statements that the imprisonment of Sisodia was related to his promises for the children of Delhi, Swaraj said this outspoken stance of AAP to prove the party's innocence cannot hold it free from the alleged offense.
"Sisodia and AAP leadership are fully responsible for shifting Delhi's children from 'paathshaala' to 'madhushaala'," she remarked.
Asked why standards of education were deteriorating in Delhi, Swaraj said it is because Arvind Kejriwal, founder of the AAP, continued in the post of Chief Minister, even though there were legal proceedings against him, that all the laws and rules in the capital had come to a standstill, and now there was "zero governance.".
Read also | RSS Decries Unacceptable Violence Against Minorities in Bangladesh
Read also | Ajit Pawar Expresses Regret to Onion Farmers, Promises Lift on Export Ban
