CAPITAL FETTERS

The arrest of Manish Sisodia, the most high-profile minister in Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet, is perhaps the biggest political crisis to hit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since its inception in 2012. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the Delhi deputy CM on February 26 for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor excise policy of 2021-22. The agency alleges that Sisodia, as excise minister, took "arbitrary and unilateral decisions" causing "huge financial losses to the exchequer" and benefiting private players.

- Kaushik Deka

AAP, refuting the charges, accuses the Narendra Modi government of using the CBI for political vendetta. Sisodia is the second minister in Kejriwal's cabinet to be arrested by a central agency. Last June, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Satyendar Jain, another heavyweight minister, in an alleged money-laundering case. He has been in jail since; Sisodia, in his own words, may be behind bars for 6-7 months too. Both ministers have tendered their resignations. Sisodia is also being probed by the CBI for allegedly setting up a 'feedback unit' to collect political intelligence against AAP's rivals in 2015. As the ministry of home affairs (MHA) sanctioned his prosecution in that case last fortnight under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Delhi politics already seemed headed for a heated summer. The arrest now seals that.

The immediate impact will be on Delhi's administration. Sisodia headed 18 of its 33 departments, including the crucial portfolios of finance, education, home, health and public works-the last three being added after Jain's arrest. A key challenge for the AAP government will come with the 2023-24 budget, due later this month. Sisodia, who has tabled eight consecutive AAP government budgets since 2015, has prepared the budget; it will now be presented by revenue minister Kailash Gahlot, who has been given charge of finance. Sisodia's budgets have been the driving force behind Kejriwal's Delhi model, which revolves around three principle affordable healthcare and education, free electricity and water, and generation of enough revenue to fund these schemes. It's a model that has helped AAP consolidate its votebank amongst the lower and lower middle class, helping win Delhi for two consecutive terms, and one that propelled it to a win in Punjab.