Trinamool stands by AAP over Sisodia's arrest

Kolkata, Feb 26 (IANS) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Sunday expressed its solidarity with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in wake of the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Trinamool leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien, in a tweet, claimed that Sisodia would not have been arrested had he succumbed to the pressure of BJP.

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he termed Sisodia's arrest as a plot by the two top ministers of the Union cabinet.

In the tweet, O'Brien has also claimed that at a time when all the erstwhile allies of BJP have deserted the saffron camp, central agencies like the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT) departments have remained the only allies of the ruling party at the Centre.

"If @msisodia had got himself a #BJP brand of washing machine, he would never been arrested. Bravo, Manis. Allies ShivSena, JD(U) & others have all abandoned BJP. Only CBI, ED, IT remain true allies. Targeting Opposition leaders is the Desperate DUO's favorite job," O'Brien's Twitter message read.

However, the BJP's state leadership ridiculed the Trinamool's expression of solidarity as an indirect attempt to divert attention from the fact the state's ruling party has been saddled with too many scams.