NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: Per week after former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s arrest by CBI, Delhi CM and AAP nationwide convener Arvind Kejriwal Sunday joined the management of seven events – together with Telangana counterpart Ok Chandrashekhar Rao and Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee – in writing to PM Modi on alleged “blatant misuse” of central agencies against the opposition. Congress, Nitish Kumar‘s JD(U) and DMK weren’t a part of the transfer.
The letter states that Sisodia’s arrest will be cited globally as an example of “political witch hunt” and “further confirm what the world was suspecting – that India’s democratic values stand threatened under an authoritarian BJP regime”. Sources in Hyderabad mentioned the proposal for a joint missive to PM Modi was mooted by KCR, whose daughter and MLC K Kavitha has been named in the ED’s chargesheet within the Delhi liquor coverage case.

KCR ‘man behind joint oppn letter’ on Sisodia
After sending a joint protest letter signed by eight events to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia‘s arrest, AAP slammed Congress for not standing by it on this challenge. AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj mentioned, “If you look at the history, you will find Congress has never stood by the opposition. Whenever it comes to raising voice on national issues, Congress goes missing. They have gone missing today as well.”
“The entire world knows that Sisodia has been arrested. Congress, which considers itself the big brother and says it will lead if any opposition alliance is formed, should have reached out to the opposition parties,” he mentioned. “Where is Congress, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi?”

Meanwhile, Congress claimed no one approached the get together to be one of many signatories. While Congress has been advocating a joint opposition, the get together management continues to argue that there’s a have to determine real secular anti-BJP events, and that it can’t be a random assortment of teams “playing both sides”. Congress has additionally formally stored mum on Sisodia’s arrest within the liquor police case. Senior get together functionary Ajay Maken lately instructed colleagues that there ought to be no sympathy for AAP because it had allegedly made cash illegally from the liquor commerce within the capital and in addition used it towards Congress in state elections like Goa and Punjab.
Telangana CM and BRS chief Ok Chandrashekhar Rao, who sources mentioned was the person behind the joint letter, has additionally been one of many sharpest critics of the Prime Minister and a key participant within the bid to cobble collectively an anti-BJP nationwide entrance.
The different signatories to the letter are Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena, UBT), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.

The letter claims that the explanations given for Sisodia’s arrest by the CBI have been “outright baseless and smack of a political conspiracy”. “The misuse of central agencies and constitutional offices like that of the governor to settle scores outside of the electoral battlefield is strongly condemnable, as it does not bode well for our democracy.”
The letter mentions that the utmost variety of politicians booked, arrested, raided or interrogated by central companies beneath BJP’s governance since 2014 belong to the opposition. “Interestingly, the investigation agencies go slow on cases against politicians from the opposition parties who join BJP,” it alleges.

Sharing a protracted listing of names of opposition members who’ve been beneath the scanner, the letter states that “the manner in which prominent members of the opposition have been targeted lends credence to the allegation that your government is using investigating agencies to target or eliminate the opposition”.