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Kejriwal, Sisodia mark Holi with AAP workers after excise policy case discharge
CBI has moved Delhi High Court against the trial court order; BJP says it will study the verdict before a response.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia joined party workers for a Holi gathering at Sisodia’s residence in New Delhi on March 4, with AAP leaders describing the celebrations as their first such event in three years amid the legal and political fallout of the Delhi excise policy case.
In remarks during the event, Kejriwal said the party was celebrating what he called a “kattar imaandaar” Holi, and claimed the trial court’s order had established that AAP leaders were “honest”. He also alleged that the party and its leadership had been subjected to “injustice” and that the case was part of a political conspiracy, assertions he repeated in a post on X, where he said the party’s “colours” had not faded despite “conspiracy and lies” because its strength lay in honesty and public trust.
Kejriwal also criticised the BJP-led government in Delhi over liquor retail operations on the festival day, saying that liquor outlets used to remain shut on major festivals in the past to avoid disturbances. He said keeping shops open on Holi was a wrong decision. AAP’s statement further said Kejriwal conveyed Holi greetings to people in Delhi and across the country.
Sisodia, who hosted the gathering, also posted a Holi message, saying the festival was the same but the colour was new, describing it as the colour of “kattar imaandari”. In his message, he framed the celebrations as tied to what AAP leaders called vindication in court, and said the “colour” of honesty would endure.
AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said party workers had not celebrated Holi in recent years, citing the arrests and jail terms faced by senior leaders in the excise policy case. Bharadwaj alleged that the accusations were politically motivated and said the party cadre saw the trial court’s order as a chance to celebrate together again.
The Holi event comes days after a special CBI court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the case linked to the Delhi excise policy, refusing to take cognisance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge sheet. The case relates to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped 2021–22 excise policy; the Delhi government later withdrew that policy and reverted to an older excise regime.
The CBI has challenged the discharge order in the Delhi High Court, arguing in its petition that the trial court conducted a “mini-trial” and that the order was based on a selective reading of the prosecution case. The agency said the order was “patently illegal” and “perverse”, and that it suffered from errors and misreading of facts. The High Court is scheduled to hear the matter on March 9, PTI reported.
The BJP, responding to AAP’s claims after the discharge order, said the matter would follow the legal process. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi described the development as a “technical matter” and said the party would give a “structured response” after studying the judgment. He also said the people of Delhi had already given Kejriwal a “political response”, PTI reported.
