- Delhi court acquitted Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case
- Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the verdict proves AAP's honesty from the start
- Several senior AAP leaders were jailed during the investigation, Mann noted
After a Delhi court cleared former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia in the alleged liquor policy corruption case, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann strongly welcomed the decision and said the verdict proved that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been honest from the beginning.
He said that the case had no real foundation and was driven by politics.
While speaking to NDTV, Mann said, "We have been saying that all of this is a political case and it has no basis..."
Mann pointed out that several senior AAP leaders were jailed during the investigation. "The top five leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party were put behind bars, and our decision-making team was put behind bars. But we knew that God was with us. And today when the decision was made, people's prayers also had a big impact."
Expressing gratitude, he said, "The people who prayed for us, and those who prayed for us, we are very thankful to them. And Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Vijay Nair, all our leaders have been released. Congratulations to them too."
Mann stressed that the verdict confirmed the honesty of AAP's leadership. "And this has proved that we are honest, there is no flaw in our intentions. It is possible that we may not be politically experienced, we may have less experience, but we will never lose the experience of honesty. So today, the truth has won. I would like to congratulate them for that," Mann told NDTV.
When asked about the CBI's statement that it would challenge the ruling in the High Court, Mann said AAP was prepared for any future legal step. "Let them do that. We are ready. We are ready to face any problem. When you speak against any system, when you talk about changing any system, the beneficiaries of that system will bounce back. They will not sit idle."
AAP leader Sanjay Singh called the verdict proof that the allegations were part of a larger political conspiracy.
Posting on X, Singh wrote, "The court has acquitted our leaders. It has been proven that a dangerous conspirator is ruling over the country's power. Who hatched a conspiracy to defame the country's most popular honest Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the most capable honest Education Minister Manish Sisodia, and the finest honest party, AamAadmiParty."
Priyanka Chaturvedi, MP of Shiv Sena(UBT), posted on X, "They fought the lies, the propaganda, the toxic political agenda and ensured truth & justice prevailed. Well done @ArvindKejriwal ji and @msisodia ji!"
Mahua Moitra, MP from Trinamool Congress, wrote, "Satyameva Jayate! BJP learn your lesson while there is still time. All your dirty tricks, your ED, your CBI - all these puppets will die in the face of truth. Congratulations @ArvindKejriwal."
The case dates back to a liquor policy launched by the AAP government in 2021-22, which the then Kejriwal government had claimed would bring a lot more revenue than the model that existed before that.
