Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday appealed to prime minister Narendra Modi to 'take our concerns seriously' amid criticism of the government over the arrest of Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on corruption charges. Pawar was one of nine opposition leaders who signed an open letter to Modi Sunday - claiming 'blatant misuse of central agencies'.
"First signature in that letter is mine… we want PM to take our concerns seriously. For example, in (Delhi chief minister Arvind) Kejriwal government the person who worked well in education sector and was praised by many is being arrested," Pawar told news agency ANI.
Manish Sisodia was Delhi deputy chief minister and the national capital's education minister till he resigned last week after his arrest in the liquor excise policy case. Cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain, who was Delhi's health minister, also quit after months behind bars on money laundering charges.
READ | Arrested Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain resign
The arrest of Sisodia - whose bail plea is to be heard on Friday, after Holi - has triggered protests from the opposition, which has criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for using investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation, which arrested Sisodia - to target rivals.
The AAP has denied all charges against both Sisodia and Jain.
{{/usCountry}}The AAP has denied all charges against both Sisodia and Jain.
{{/usCountry}}"There are many examples of such arrests," Pawar said in remarks seen as a reference to two of his party members, ex-Maharashtra ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, who were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in November 2021 and March 2022 on money laundering charges.
Deshmukh was given bail in December last year. Malik remains behind bars.
"At the same time, those who had allegations (against them) had no action taken after they joined the party," Pawar added, taking a swipe at the BJP over opposition claims that political rivals who face corruption allegations see those cases dropped after they join the saffron party.
Delhi CM and AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal made the same claim last week after Sisodia's arrest, referring to the BJP's 'washing machine service'.
The Congress has also made such claims in the past.
READ | After Sisodia's arrest, AAP aims 'washing machine' attack on BJP
Kejriwal was one of the nine opposition leaders who signed Sunday's letter. His Bengal and Telangana counterparts, Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress and K Chandrashekar Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, also signed, as did AAP leader and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and the Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav.
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The signatories called Sisodia's arrest a 'political witch-hunt' that threatened Indian democracy and pointed to instances where one-time political rivals of the BJP, including Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (formerly of the Congress), saw cases dropped after they switched sides.
Neither the Congress nor its Tamil Nadu ruling ally, the DMK, signed the letter.
BJP spokespersons - who have hit out at the AAP over allegations against Sisodia - doubled down and accused the signatories of trying to protect each other from corruption charges.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut backed Thackeray's signing with an attack of his own on the Modi government, accusing it of 'terrorising people across the country through (the) ED & CBI'.
"It is a dictatorship… the way Taliban and Al Qaeda pick weapons to finish off rivals… similarly the government is using ED, CBI for their interests," Raut said.
With input from ANI