Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva Detained During Protest Against AAP Over Snooping Allegations

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 9th Feb. Virendra Sachdeva, the working president of the Delhi BJP, was detained on Thursday while attempting to breach a police barricade during a protest against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over allegations that he directed a political intelligence unit to spy on rivals.

The BJP staged a protest near the Delhi Secretariat, demanding Sisodia’s removal after the CBI revealed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had formed the “Feedback Unit” or “FBU” after the AAP came to power in the capital in 2015.

The AAP has called the charges “completely false” and “politically motivated”. The allegations are the latest to target Sisodia after investigating agencies, which report to the BJP-led government at the centre, launched an investigation into Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor sales policy.

The BJP’s protest comes after reports said Delhi’s LG VK Saxena, who reports to the central government as well, forwarded a recommendation of CBI to the President through the Home Ministry for filing a case against Sisodia after an inquiry into the FBU.

An initial report of the CBI alleged that the FBU set up by the Delhi government months after AAP came to power in Delhi in 2015 indulged in “political intelligence”.

“No one, not even journalists, businessmen, and senior officers, was untouched by the Feedback unit. The way the AAP government is functioning, very soon both Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia will be behind the bars,” said Virendra Sachdeva before he was detained.

Sachdeva, calling it a “very serious” matter, said the BJP will “continue the struggle” until both Mr Sisodia and his boss, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, are imprisoned.

The AAP responded to the allegations in a statement, saying, “The entire country is aware that political spying is carried out by [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, not Manish Sisodia. An FIR should be filed against Modi, not against Manish Sisodia.”