Manish Sisodia, Summoned By CBI In Liquor Policy Case, Seeks More Time

Mr Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Finance Minister, told reporters that he needs at least a week before he can go to the CBI's office as he has been preparing the national capital's Budget for fiscal 2024. He said he will "fully cooperate" with the central agency.

The BJP's Delhi unit termed Mr Sisodia's request an "excuse" and said his "body language" indicates that he is scared. "Budget is an excuse, the real objective is to run. He was claiming till yesterday that there is no scam, but today's his body language indicates that he is scared. Scared of tough questions?" Delhi BJP spoksperson Harish Khurana said in a statement. 

Mr Sisodia was scheduled to visit the CBI headquarters at south Delhi's Lodhi Road around 11 am. "CBI has called me again tomorrow (Sunday). They have unleashed the full power of CBI, ED (Enforcement Directorate) against me, raided my house, searched my bank locker, and yet found nothing against me," he tweeted yesterday.

Mr Sisodia, the deputy of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and others face corruption allegations in bringing a new liquor sale policy in the national capital. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had ordered the CBI probe last year.

Thereafter, the Delhi government reverted to the old liquor policy and blamed the Lieutenant Governor for loss of revenue worth crores of rupees that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government claimed would have come if the new policy had continued.

The BJP said the Delhi government went back to the old liquor sale policy to cover up corruption in the excise department held by Mr Sisodia.

The AAP alleged the BJP at the centre was behind the Lieutenant Governor's decision to send the CBI after Mr Sisodia. The liquor policy case soon found itself on top of the long list of friction points between the AAP and the Lieutenant Governor, and by extension the centre.

For years, Mr Kejriwal's AAP and the office of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor have fought over who has what kind of power to run the national capital - a Union Territory. Mr Kejriwal, right from the time when he launched the AAP, has had serious disagreements with the Lieutenant Governor's office concerning territorial boundaries of governance.

The most recent example of the friction between the Lieutenant Governor and the AAP took place just two days ago, when the Supreme Court agreed to the AAP's request that members of Delhi's civic body nominated by the Lieutenant Governor can't vote in the mayor election. A day after the AAP's Supreme Court win came the CBI's call to Mr Sisodia to come to their office today for questioning in the Delhi liquor sale policy case.

The CBI has said it is now focusing on the alleged influence of a "South Lobby" of businessmen and politicians making the Delhi liquor policy to swing in their favour using middlemen, traders and bureaucrats. Recently, the CBI arrested Butchibabu Gorantla, a former chartered accountant of K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.