The raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation on the residence of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and other places as well as the registration of an FIR in the excise policy case has kicked up a political storm in distant Himachal Pradesh, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was targeting its top leaders to prevent them from visiting the hill state in the run-up to assembly polls.
“There is a deliberate attempt to prevent leaders from strengthening the party ahead of the polls. Earlier, Satyendar Jain was framed, and now these raids on the deputy CM just two days after he announced five education-related guarantees in Shimla,” said AAP Himachal president Surjeet Thakur on Friday. “The people of the state are watching all this, and they will give the BJP a befitting reply in the upcoming elections.”
Alleging a pattern, Thakur said that even Jain was targeted when he had started carrying out elaborate tours of the state and begun strategising for a win.
“He had been making people aware of how the BJP had kept them deprived of basic facilities through his nukkad meetings and visits to distant villages. This scared the BJP and he was arrested,” said Thakur. “And now that Sisodia was taking a deep interest in the affairs of Himachal and had promised to transform the state’s education system, he, too, has been framed.”
Thakur also slammed the central agencies for “working on the directions of the BJP”.
“The CBI and the ED don’t have the courage to act against BJP leaders. Why don’t they investigate Gujarat’s spurious liquor scam which killed over 100 people?” Thakur said.
The ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh, however, trashed these allegations.
BJP general secretary Trilok Jamwal said, ”AAP leaders are already preparing their ground as they are now quite sure that they would lose. They are levelling baseless allegations against autonomous bodies like the ED.”
Jamwal said that if AAP leaders are not guilty, they would walk out free. He said the party has already faced failed rallies and public gatherings, and so it is coming up with such false charges.
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