Tajinder Bagga case: Manish Sisodia breaks silence, says BJP going all out to save a ‘goon’

The arrest by Punjab Police--and subsequent release--of Delhi BJP spokesperson Bagga has triggered an intense war of words between the AAP and BJP.

Delhi deputy chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday became the senior-most party member to react on the arrest by Punjab Police--and later release--of Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, as he slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for 'going all out to protect a goon’.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga arrives at his residence after being produced before the Duty Metropolitan Magistrate, in New Delhi.  (HT_PRINT)

“The BJP and its governments are using their political might to save a goon who spoke against communal harmony and Punjab and tried to incite a riot in the state. BJP is a party of goons and uses its governments as goons. They never talk about things like education, health, inflation and unemployment,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi, without directly naming Bagga.

Sisodia's tweet came a day after a team of the Punjab Police arrested Bagga for an alleged inflammatory tweet against AAP national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, of whom the 36-year-old is a staunch critic. The Punjab Police, which reports to the state's newly-elected AAP government, said that the BJP leader ignored five previous summons to appear for questioning in the case.

On the other hand, the Delhi Police, which reports to the Union home ministry and, therefore, the BJP-ruled Centre, said it was not given any prior intimation by its Punjab counterparts that a team will come to arrest Tajinder Bagga. In a dramatic sequence of events that followed, the Punjab Police team, while taking Bagga to a court in Mohali, was stopped by the Haryana Police in Kurukshetra; Haryana, which has a BJP government, borders both Delhi and Punjab.

Eventually, he was ‘handed back’ to the Delhi Police who brought him back to the national capital. The force has also filed a ‘kidnapping’ FIR against its Punjab counterparts.