Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, has likely fallen for a prank by a popular Instagram user who had sent him a message last evening posing as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker. The user messaged the AAP leader that he has a message from Amit Shah and that if Sisodia joins BJP, he will be relieved of all the cases against him.
On Monday, Sisodia, creating a new fuss, claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has offered him to join the party and abandon the Aam Aadmi Party, which will result in the dismissal of all cases filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The screenshot of the message was shared on Twitter by another popular Twitter user Facts (@BefittingFacts)
Personal baatein leak nahi karni thi @msisodia ji 😡🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/xRGXSjad1k
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) August 22, 2022
In the tweet, Manish Sisodia wrote that the BJP has sent him a message that if he breaks up AAP and joins BJP, all CBI and ED cases against him will be dropped. He claimed he is a descendant of Maharana Pratap and a Rajput and he will behead himself but not bow before ‘corrupt-conspirators’.
It is worth noting that the CBI has raided the deputy CM in a case involving irregularities and corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy, which was implemented earlier this year and subsequently reversed. On Friday, August 19, 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked 15 people, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in an FIR. Along with Manish Sisodia and Excise officials, the CBI has implicated many other private individuals as suspects in the fraud.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra has slammed Sisodia for his recent statement.
ज़िंदगी भर औरंगज़ेब की इबादत की और चोरी और रिश्वतख़ोरी में जेल जाने का समय आया तो महाराणा प्रताप याद आ गए
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) August 22, 2022
केस माफ़ कराने और BJP में आने के लिए आपने कितने पापड़ बेलें है ये मीडिया और पोलिटिकल सर्कल में सबको पता है
पकड़े जाने पर हर भ्रष्ट , चोर, रिश्वतखोर ऐसे ही बिलबिलाता है https://t.co/50cyNnVdZ6
Mishra said how all his life the likes of Sisodia have worshipped Aurangzeb and now flaunting Maharana Pratap’s connections. He further added that in the political and media circles, Sisodia doesn’t really have great reputation.
Earlier, former Pakistani minister Ch Fawad Hussain had also fallen for PokerShash’s pranks during the Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan in 2019. In September 2019, Hussain took to Twitter to tell the world that ‘informed sports commentators’ had told him that India has threatened Sri Lankan players that they will be ousted from Indian Premier League (IPL) if they don’t cancel their Pakistan tour.
Except, Fawad Chaudhry’s tweet came hours after prankster had sent the message to Fawad Hussain on WhatsApp that the decision by Sri Lanka was taken after the IPL authorities threatened Sri Lankan players that they’ll be thrown out of IPL if they go to Pakistan. PokerShash’s account has been suspended on Twitter since, but as evident, he is now continuing to prank people on other platforms.
The jury, however, is still out whether Sisodia fell for a prank.
Allegations of corruption against Manish Sisodia
The Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-2022 is at the centre of the controversy. The Delhi government’s now-cancelled liquor policy was first envisaged in 2020. It modified how alcohol was sold in Delhi once it went into effect in November 2021.
Until recently, only government-owned liquor stores could sell alcohol. The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022 allowed for the entry of private businesses into the market. The National Capital was split into 32 zones, with 27 private dealers operating in each.
Every municipal ward has at least two liquor sellers. Private liquor stores were permitted to entice customers by giving discounts on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
While the purpose of Excise Policy 2021-2022 was to combat black marketing and the liquor mafia, the AAP government was quickly chastised over claims of corruption. In the new liquor policy, Naresh Kumar, who was appointed Chief Secretary of Delhi in April 2022, discovered errors and procedural failures. The Chief Secretary prepared a report and sought the response of Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the head of the Excise Department.
Manish Sisodia reportedly waived off ₹144.36 crores on the license fee, to be paid by the private liquor vendors, under the garb of the Coronavirus pandemic. He also caused loss to the Excise Department and benefitted liquor licensees by waiving the import pass fee of ₹50 per beer case.
All these changes were made without the final approval of the Lieutenant Governor and thus considered illegal under the Delhi Excise Rules of 2010 and Transaction of Business Rules of 1993. The CBI had therefore registered a case against Manish Sisodia.
