OSD Just A Face, Money Goes In Manish Sisodia's Pocket: BJP's Parvesh Verma

BJP attacked Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia after the CBI arrested his OSD over bribery allegations on late Thursday night. Targeting Sisodia, BJP MP Parevsh Verma said that, “OSD is just a name, a face. Our Deputy Chief Minister is his ‘maalik’. All the money taken by him as bribe goes in Sisodia’s pocket. And it is this money with which ‘biryani’ is being sent to the Shaheen Bagh protesters.” The arrest comes a day before the Delhi Assembly Elections. It should be noted that Verma was banned again from campaigning in Delhi for 24 hours for calling Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a 'terrorist'. Last week, he was banned from campaigning for 96 hours for making hate speeches.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also echoed the sentiments. “No OSD in a Deputy CM’s office can accept bribes without the knowledge of his political boss... There have been several allegations of corruption on Kejriwal and Sisodia in the past too...,” Malviya said on Twitter. BJP’s Hari Nagar candidate Tajinder Singh Bagga said that he will demand the Election Commission to take action against Sisodia.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's OSD Gopal Krishna Madhav was arrested based on information provided by a middleman who allegedly collected bribes from transporters on his behalf, officials said on Friday. The probe agency arrested the officer and middleman Dheeraj Gupta on Thursday, two days before the Delhi elections. During the questioning, Gupta claimed that he was collecting Rs 2.26 lakh as bribe for Madhav, a Delhi Andaman and Nicobar Island Civil Service officer in trade and tax department.

Sisodia, on his part, demanded strictest action against the erring official saying that the Aam Aadmi Party has zero tolerance policy against corruption. “Just got to know that a GST inspector has been arrested while taking a bribe. This man was deployed as the OSD in my office. CBI must ensure strictest possible action against the him. I have myself been working against such corrupt officers and have exposed many in last five years,” Sisodia said in tweet. Sisodia also said he has no issue over the timing of the arrest. “I have no issues with the timing of arrest, whoever takes bribe should be caught immediately. We have zero tolerance for corruption,” Sisodia was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, a day before the voting in Delhi Assembly Elections, the Shiv Sena on Friday heaped praises on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his government's "ideal" work in the last five years, and said the Centre should have replicated the 'Delhi model' of development in other states. The Sena said Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah should have felicitated Kejriwal for fulfilling the promises in Delhi, but instead of doing that senior BJP leaders and ministers are raking up the 'Hindu vs Muslim' issue in a bid to win the elections.