New Delhi:

The BJP on Friday said the regular arrests of AAP leaders in corruption cases have torn to shreds its claims of “kattar” (hardcore) honesty and politics of values, and provided to citizens “food for thought” that this is not the time for experimental politics as the country progresses.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi cited a Delhi court’s observations that the material placed before it nowhere shows that Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s arrest in the excise policy case is unwarranted and unreasonable, as he slammed the Aam Aadmi Party’s condemnation of the action against its leader.

The court has prima facie held Singh’s arrest as correct, he claimed, adding that corruption has become a common practise in Delhi’s ruling party.

Noting that Singh is the AAP’s leader in Parliament while two other senior leaders of the party — Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain — have also been jailed on corruption charges, Trivedi told reporters here that the frequent arrests of its leaders have exposed the claims made by the party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“For those who are alleging that the case is baseless, the Rouse Avenue Court has clearly observed that prima facie, the material placed before it nowhere shows that the arrest in the present case is unwarranted and unreasonable,” he said.

The AAP, which had promised to establish values in Indian politics, has become the “most valueless party” and the people of Delhi are feeling cheated, the BJP leader said.

It is food for thought for the country’s citizens as well, he added.

“Those who speak of having new experiences in politics…it is no more the era of experimental politics. India is emerging strongly on the world stage to play a new role,” Trivedi said, claiming that the AAP has shown how tragic and dangerous such experiences can become.

With JD(U) MP Sunil Kumar Pintu alleging that the caste survey in Bihar has undercounted the ‘Teli’ caste members in an attack on his own party’s government in the state, Trivedi said it has further raised questions on the credibility of the entire exercise which has been seized on by the INDIA bloc parties to push for a nationwide caste census.

The BJP spokesperson also took a swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying the party founder Bal Thackeray had once expressed pride at its members’ suspected role in the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 while it now stands in alliance with those who had fired guns on the devotees of Lord Ram.

People can see who is with Ram and who is with Ravan, who is with dharma and who is with adharma, he said.

The BJP recently shared a poster on X portraying Rahul Gandhi as a “new age Ravan”, evoking strong criticism from the opposition party which termed it “unacceptable” and “downright dangerous”. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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New Delhi:

A day after the ED arrested AAP leader Sanjay Singh, the Congress came out in support of its INDIA ally and condemned BJP’s vendetta politics, but also used the opportunity to bring up the recent arrests of its leaders in Punjab. It also took a veiled dig at the AAP and said “we cannot become those who oppose”.

Breaking the party’s silence at the national level on the Rajya Sabha MP’s arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said on Thursday that law enforcement agencies were being used to settle political scores. 

“AAP MP Sh. @SanjayAzadSln ji’s arrest by the ED takes the BJP’s vendetta politics to another level. We stand in complete solidarity with him and reject the use of law enforcement agencies to settle political scores,” Mr Venugopal said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

AAP MP Sh. @SanjayAzadSln ji’s arrest by the ED takes the BJP’s vendetta politics to another level.

We stand in complete solidarity with him and reject the use of law enforcement agencies to settle political scores.

For this reason, we also oppose the arrests of All India…

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) October 5, 2023

The next two paragraphs of the post also had a message for the AAP. Mr Venugopal brought up the arrest of Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira last month in connection with a 2015 drugs case and that of party leader and former deputy chief minister OP Soni by the Punjab Vigilance Department in July.

“For this reason, we also oppose the arrests of All India Kisan Sabha Chairperson Sh. @SukhpalKhaira  ji and former Punjab Dty. CM Sh. OP Saini ji (sic) by the Punjab police. Democratic principles of a fair trial and authorities acting within the boundaries of the Constitution are non-negotiable. We cannot become those we oppose,” the post read.

INDIA Equations

The arrest of Mr Khaira had led to a bitter squabble between the two INDIA allies. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had said the party will not tolerate injustice and those who are unjust “don’t survive for long” while the party’s Punjab President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had called the arrest “an attempt to intimidate the opposition”. 

A leader from the AAP’s state unit had said it would not form an alliance with a party that is “already so discredited” in Punjab. A day after the arrest, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had tried to soothe frayed tempers and asserted that his party was committed to the INDIA alliance and would not separate from it. 

Tensions had been brewing even before the arrest, though. Punjab is one of the states that is likely to be difficult for the INDIA alliance in terms of seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls. 

Days after the third meeting of the INDIA alliance in September, Punjab Minister Anmol Gagan Mann had said the AAP would fight on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state and claimed this was the “direction” of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Congress Punjab chief Warring had also said the party is gearing up to fight on all seats.

New Delhi:

In a strong message to his colleagues in the Aam Aadmi Party before his arrest, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh reminded them that they are soldiers of the party and they have to continue the fight against the “corrupt” BJP government at the centre. “Marna manzoor hai, darna nahin (We are ready to die, but not to be scared),” the defiant MP declared.

In the video message, recorded before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi liquor policy case, Mr Singh said he has been relentlessly fighting and raising his voice against the corruption of the Narendra Modi government.

“Today, the ED suddenly reached my house and carried out searches for the whole day and investigated everything, but found nothing. Despite this, I am being arrested. But we are soldiers of the Aam Aadmi Party and we want to tell Modiji that he is losing the next elections, and losing badly,” Mr Singh claimed.

“This is a sign of your frustration and defeat. This is an example of a scared Prime Minister inflicting cruelty and dictatorship and jailing people to try and win elections. But I want to remind Modiji that whenever tyranny increases, the people rise up to raise their voices against it. We are ready to die, but not to be scared. No matter how much suffering Modiji inflicts on me, I always have, and will continue to, speak against the corruption of the Narendra Modi government,” the MP said in Hindi. 

Mr SIngh alleged that, after his arrest, fake news will be planted against him and fake information will be disseminated.

The Enforcement Directorate carried out a raid at the residence of Sanjay Singh on Wednesday morning and arrested him in the evening. He has been arrested in a money laundering case linked to the investigation into the Delhi liquor policy.

While the BJP has justified his arrest and even hinted at action being taken at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal next, the AAP has insisted that 15 months of investigation into the case have yielded nothing. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had also been arrested in connection with the case in February.