New Delhi: Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, asserted on Saturday that the BJP and AAP will face off directly in the general elections of 2024.
Speaking to the media, Sisodia asserted that the election would be between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister and leader of the AAP Arvind Kejriwal.
Kejriwal's emergence as a national alternative following the Punjab assembly election is the BJP's biggest concern, according to Sisodia.
Their main concern, according to him, is Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's rising stature, not any flaws in the Excise policy or any scandal.
Sisodia's remark came a day after the CBI raided his residence and other locations in connection with irregularities in connection with New Excise Policy.
A conspiracy is being hatched through this raid by the probe agency to stop Arvind Kejriwal, he alleged.
"I am not involved in any corruption. My only mistake is that I am the education minister of the Arvind Kejriwal government", said Sisodia.
"It may be that the CBI can arrest me in the next 3-4 days. But we won't be scared. They cannot stop us. The elections of 2024 will be AAP vs BJP," Sisodia said.
He has proved his mettle as a leader who works for the public by improving Delhi's education and health systems.
He said that the Excise policy due to which whole controversy is created is the country's best policy.
"We were applying it with transparency & sincerity. Had Delhi LG not changed his decision conspiring to fail the policy, Delhi government would've been getting at least Rs 10,000 crore every year," claimed Deputy CM Sisodia.
"Around Rs, 10 thousand crores were misappropriated through excise policy in Gujarat. If they have any concern about the excise irregularities or any loopholes, the whole CBI and ED office should have shifted to Gujarat."
"If they were really against corruption, then today, ED and CBI should have probed the Bundelkhand Expressway which developed deep potholes due to heavy rainfall, shortly after Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the expressway, he claimed.
"While Kejriwal thinks how to develop the nation on all parameters, Prime Minister Modi thinks how to topple the non-BJP governments in the states and form their government," he alleged.
"CBI FIR, quoting sources, mentions Rs one crore scam, what about the highest claim of Rs 8,000 crore made by BJP leaders, Sisodia asked.
He said further that "America's biggest newspaper The New York Times covered Delhi's education model on its front page on August 18. It is a pride moment for India. Another story showing thousands of bodies being cremated along the Ganges was published around one and half years ago. However, that was shameful for all of us".
"This is the difference between PM Modi and Arvind Kejriwal is that if Kejriwal sees anyone working honestly, he encourages them to do more, but they conspire to obstruct the way. I would like to say that this does not suit PM Modi who has got such a massive victory," Sisodia added.
With inputs from IANS