Table of Contents
Sisodia visits temple, meets colleagues as AAP top brass brainstorms on role for him
Former Deputy CM visits Hanuman Mandir, Rajghat before interacting with party workers at AAP office; BJP says Sisodia must tell people about the conditions on which he has been granted bail
AAP leader Manish Sisodia paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on Saturday.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia started the day, his first after spending 17 months in prison, with a cup of tea. In a post in Hindi on X, in which he shared a photograph with his wife, Mr. Sisodia celebrated his “first cup of tea at the dawn of freedom”.
Chock-a-block schedule
The AAP leader’s schedule was chock-a-block for the rest of the day.
His first stop was Connaught Place’s Hanuman Mandir, where he reached around 10 a.m. with several supporters and party colleagues, including Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, Finance Minister Atishi and Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.
It is the same temple that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited after being released on interim bail in May this year and before returning to prison at the end of his bail term.
After offering prayers at the temple, Mr. Sisodia visited Rajghat around 11 a.m. to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.
An hour later, he reached the AAP headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg and interacted with party workers.
The senior AAP leader, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on February 26, 2023 and then by the Enforcement Directorate on March 9 of the same year in cases linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in both cases on Friday.
Future role
While AAP is yet to formally announce the responsibility that Mr. Sisodia will be entrusted with, sources said he is likely to be tasked with leading the party’s campaign in the upcoming elections in Haryana and Delhi.
After his release, the party leadership explored the option of handing him a Cabinet portfolio, said a source.
Legal options
“However, inducting him into the Cabinet will be difficult as Kejriwal won’t be able to sign the necessary files from Tihar Jail,” the source added. The leadership is exploring legal remedies to overcome this hurdle, the source also said.
One of the seniormost party leaders, Mr. Sisodia was associated with the India Against Corruption movement, which birthed AAP. He went on to serve as Delhi’s Minister of Finance, Excise, and Education. However, he resigned from all Cabinet posts after being arrested by the Central probe agencies last year.
‘Ensure AAP loses’
Attacking AAP, the BJP’s Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva said Delhi’s residents will ensure that the ruling party candidates lose their security deposits in the Assembly election in the Capital due early next year.
“The people will give their response to the boastful speeches made by AAP leaders while welcoming Sisodia, who has been released from prison on a conditional bail,” he said.
Mr. Sachdeva added that the former Deputy CM must tell people about the conditions on which he had been granted bail by the apex court.
“The people of Delhi want to know whether it is true that Sisodia has been granted bail on the condition that he report to the police at 10 a.m. once a week and keep his phone location active round the clock,” Mr. Sachdeva said.
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT
Related Topics
Delhi
/
politics
/
state politics
/
politics (general)