Congress to avoid making Sisodia’s arrest a poll issue in Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign launch in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, Manish Sisodia’s arrest has come as a jolt to AAP’s expansion bid. The development came before two major events of the party scheduled on 4 March in Karnataka and 5 March in Chhattisgarh.
According to the AAP leadership in Chhattisgarh, their main target is the Congress and the party is hoping for a Gujarat-like performance in Chhattisgarh. However, the Congress is in no mood to make Sisodia’s arrest a big poll issue in the state. A political analyst suggested that AAP which was playing offensive earlier has to now play defensive. The analyst suggested that the first reason behind not taking up Manish Sisodia’s arrest issue in Chhattisgarh is because both Congress in Chhattisgarh and AAP in Delhi are under the lens of the national agencies.
Last month, the Enforcement Directorate raided locations in Raipur linked to eight Congress leaders and office bearers in a money laundering case; these raids came days before the Congress’ plenary session.
While talking to The Sunday Guardian, a Congress functionary from Chhattisgarh said: “Apart from being troubled by central agencies, another reason for not making this a big issue in the state is that AAP has zero presence in the state.”
“But Manish Sisodia’s arrest has dented AAP’s anti-corruption identity,” the Congress leader added.Even in the national capital, it is seen that various senior leaders are avoiding direct comment on the Sisodia arrest issue. It is being seen that only Ajay Maken and DPCC president Anil Kumar are verbal about the arrest. No major press conference from the Congress has taken place regarding the Sisodia issue.
Sisodia, former Delhi Deputy CM and education minister, who is also known as the number two in AAP, was arrested on 26 February by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi liquor policy scam. On 28 February, Sisodia was sent on a 5-day custody by CBI special court; after this Sisodia resigned from the cabinet. With Sisodia, jailed minister Satyendar Jain also resigned. Later, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi Marlena were inducted into the Delhi government cabinet.