K'taka AAP strongly condemns Manish Sisodia's arrest

Bengaluru, Feb 27 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Karnataka unit has strongly condemned the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by the CBI in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam.

Addressing the media here on Monday, the party's state spokesman Prithvi Reddy said: "There is nothing wrong with Delhi's excise policy. It should be noted here that the new excise policy is yet to be implemented in Delhi and the same policy is in force in many states.

"Although Central government investigators have been targeting Sisodia for nearly a year, not a shred of evidence has been found to substantiate the allegations. No cash or any illegal documents has been found. Realizing that it is only the AAP that has the power to face the BJP and since the latter is unable to confront us politically, it is misusing its powers to create trouble like this.

"The AAP is flourishing all over the country including Karnataka. The BJP cannot tolerate people being in favour of AAP. Manish Sisodia has been arrested by the Central government through the CBI, fearing that he might question the plight of government schools here when he comes to campaign for the Karnataka elections.

"We are not only ready for the arrest, but we are also ready to sacrifice our lives for the sake of the country and the people."

The spokesman went on to say that several foreign nations have also appreciated the revolution in the education brought in by the AAP in government schools across the national capital.

"But the BJP cannot tolerate this. Manish Sisodia as the Education Minister has built 25,000 state-of-the-art school rooms and laid a solid foundation for the future of around 20 lakh students.

"It is reprehensible that the BJP is doing such a low-level strategy against people like Manish Sisodia. Just like how a plant sprouts, the more the BJP disturbs, the Aam Aadmi Party will grow faster," Reddy added.