Excise Policy case: Congress backs CBI raids on AAP leadership, says AAP-BJP colluded to damage party

New Delhi: As the CBI raided the residence of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday in connection with the excise policy probe, the Congress said that he is not surprised that the raids did not take place earlier. “It is not surprising. We have been hearing about what has been happening in the Delhi Government for the last 7-8 years. It is surprising that the CBI raids didn’t happen earlier. Be it liquor case, construction of rooms in schools, teachers recruitment, the civil defence recruitment case or the contracts case wherever you see, there should’ve been not one but 10 CBI raids,” Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI. Dikshit alleged that Congress has always believed that the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP have worked in collusion in Delhi to damage the prospects of Congress. “AAP is making money, damaging Congress and supporting BJP. Now they (BJP) might have felt they’re (AAP) not needed anymore, so all sins of AAP will come out. We’ll see if BJP strikes an agreement with them or does justice,” Dikshit, the son of the late Shiela Dikshit who was chief minister of Delhi from 1998-2013. Sandeep Dikshit pointed out that if the AAP government is investigated then there will be no minister left in the AAP cabinet. “I am sure that, if the raids are done with integrity and the cases go on, there will be no minister in AAP cabinet will left,” he said adding that it remains to be seen whether the BJP “will strike an agreement with them (AAP) or do justice.” Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted, “The flip side to the relentless misuse of agencies against political rivals is that even legitimate, rightful actions of agencies come under a cloud of suspicion. In the process, the corrupt get away hiding behind the ‘misuse’ argument and the honest end up paying the price.” CBI this morning conducted searches at 21 locations in Delhi-NCR including the premises of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and the premises of former Delhi Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, over allegations of irregularities in the revamped Delhi Excise Policy that was recently withdrawn. Sisodia in a tweet this morning said: “CBI has arrived,” and added “We are honest, building a future for lakhs of children. Unfortunate that in this country, whoever does good work is hassled just like this, that is why our country is still not number-1.” Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal replied in a tweet saying that they will give full cooperation to the investigations. “CBI is welcome. We will give full cooperation. Searches/raids took place earlier too, but nothing was found. Nothing will be found now too,” Kejriwal tweeted mentioning that the CBI has raided his residence on the day when the picture of the Delhi Model and Manish Sisodia appeared on the front page of America’s biggest newspaper- New York Times. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.