According to party insiders, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has an audio recording of a BJP politician calling him and offering to drop a CBI case against him provided he quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and helped bring it down, reported NDTV.

“We don’t need to release the conversation at this point. But if needed, AAP will release the phone conversation,” according to an AAP leader who requested anonymity.

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Sisodia, who has been charged by the CBI in connection with the capital’s now-rescinded liquor policy, stated earlier in the day that the BJP had offered to “close all cases” against him if he left the AAP and crossed over.

“I have received a message from the BJP — break AAP and join BJP. We will ensure that all cases by CBI and ED against you are shut,” Manish Sisodia tweeted two days after the CBI raided him and named him in a chargesheet on the alleged liquor policy case.

The BJP strongly refuted the claim. “This is a part of AAP’s shoot-and-scoot policy. If they have proof, they should release it,” BJP leader Pramod Swami said.

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Stressing that all cases against him are false, Manish Sisodia had challenged the BJP to do “whatever you want to do”.

“My reply to BJP — I am a descendant of Maharana Pratap and a Rajput. I am ready to get beheaded but can never bow down before conspirators and corrupt people. All the cases against me are false. Do whatever you want to do,” he stated in a tweet in Hindi.

Manoj Tiwari, a BJP leader, slammed Sisodia, saying it was sad that he was comparing himself to Maharana Pratap.

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“It is shameful that he is comparing himself to Maharana Pratap. Did Maharana Pratap make people drink alcohol? You are selling alcohol in every nook and corner. You are ignoring the cries of Delhi’s women. Maharana Pratap had once taken up arms for women,” he said.

“You are comparing Maharana Pratap with someone facing a corruption case? Such corrupt people can only find a place in AAP. He will get punishment for his wrongdoing. BJP works to ensure punish wrongdoers like Manish Sisodia. No place for the corrupt in BJP,” he added.

Supporting the claim, AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said there are “three dozen examples” of the BJP pressing opposing party leaders with probes and then dismissing cases if they switched sides.

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Sisodia claimed he’d never betray his political mentor, Arvind Kejriwal. “My message to BJP on offer to make me CM candidate – @ArvindKejriwal is my political guru, I will never betray him. I did not come here to become CM, my dream is – every child of the country should get a good education, and only then India will become the number 1 country. Only Kejriwal ji can do this work in the whole country,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

The CBI recently searched a senior AAP leader in connection with alleged irregularities and corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy, which was implemented earlier this year and then reversed.

Sisodia, seemingly undeterred, doubled down last week, stating the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22  was the “best” of its type and would have collected Rs10,000 crore per year if former Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had not changed his mind at the last minute.

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The Deputy Chief Minister claims that Baijal changed his mind about allowing liquor stores in illegal colonies, causing the city government to lose thousands of crores.

In support of his deputy, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal today attacked the BJP. He claimed that the BJP-led government is busy exploiting investigative agencies and scheming ways to destabilise elected governments while people suffer from surging inflation and a plummeting rupee.

The AAP claims that cases against Sisodia and other politicians are being fabricated because the BJP is concerned about the party’s and its leader, Arvind Kejriwal’s, popularity. Sisodia has stated that the 2024 general election will be a duel between Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and has accused the BJP of abusing central government agencies to derail the AAP leader.