8 parties write to PM after Manish Sisodia’s arrest, Congress not on list

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, March 5, 2023: Eight opposition parties have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging misuse of central investigation agencies to go after them, amid the political war over the arrest of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia.

The Congress has stayed away from the letter signed by opposition leaders, including Chief Ministers K Chandrashekar Rao, Mamata Banerjee, Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal.

Others who have signed the letter are National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Sena’s Uddav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.

The Gandhis are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged money laundering linked to Young Indian’s takeover of Associated Journals Ltd, the company which ran the National Herald newspaper. Both Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi were questioned by the ED last year.

"We hope you would agree that India is still a democratic country. The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy," the letter said.

"... After a long witch-hunt, Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with alleged irregularity without a shred of evidence against him," the opposition leaders said in the letter to PM Modi.

"Out of the total number of key politicians booked, arrested, raided or interrogated by the investigation agencies under your administration since 2014, the maximum belongs to the opposition. Interestingly, investigation agencies go slow on cases against opposition politicians who join the BJP," the letter said.