As the CBI on Friday raided the residence of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the excise policy probe, the Congress said even the 'legitimate, righful' actions of agencies come under a 'cloud of suspicion' because of the 'relentless misuse of agencies'. Without naming Sisodia or Kejriwal or the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted, "The flip side to rerelentless misuse of agencies against political rivals is that even legitimate, rightful actions of agencies come under a cloud of suspicion. In the process, the corrupt get away hiding behind the ‘misuse’ argument and the honest end up paying the price." Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh retweeted it. 'Excise minister is excuse minister': BJP's Thakur on CBI searches, Sisodia
While Sisodia has been on the radar over the excise policy row, the CBI raid at his residence on Friday morning came as a dramatic development -- a month after a CBI probe was recommended by Delhi L-G VK Saxena. The agency on Friday raided around 21 premises, including that of Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arav Gopi Krishna.
The corrupt get away hiding behind ‘misuse’ argument: Congress
{{/usCountry}}The corrupt get away hiding behind ‘misuse’ argument: Congress
{{/usCountry}}The Aam Aadmi Party welcomed the CBI raids and said it will extend full cooperation to the investigation while the BJP questioned the AAP why the excise policy was changed if there was no foul play. According to the complaint, AAP received kickbacks over liquor licence distribution and Sisodia's role as the excise minister has been suspected. Chief minister Kejriwal said this is nothing new and like the past raids, investigations, this too will yield nothing.
AAP's political rival Congress, which is facing the ED heat over the National Herald case, took a measured stance and criticised the misuse of agencies, without commenting anything on AAP or Manish Sisodia. Pawan Khera said the misuse entails a process in which the corrupt get away hiding behind the ‘misuse’ argument and the honest end up paying the price.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit was, however, direct in his attack on the AAP. He said he is surprised that the raids did not take place earlier. "We were hearing about happenings in Delhi Govt. Surprising that raids didn't happen earlier. Be it liquor case, construction of rooms in schools, teachers recrutiment, wherever you see, there should've been 10 CBI raids," he said to ANI.