New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday said the BJP was in fear of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's rising popularity, hours after his deputy Manish Sisodia reached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office as he was called by the probe agency for questioning in connection with the excise policy scam.
Speaking at a press conference, AAP leader Atishi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to silence and intimidate the leaders of her party by using various tactics including raids, arrests and floating false cases.
She also dismissed the allegations of the CBI and the Central government that Sisodia had engineered a scam of Rs 10,000 crore.
Challenging the BJP to prove any allegation of corruption true against any leader of the AAP, the Kalkaji MLA said: "You will not be able to do this because we are an honest party."
"Your (addressing the BJP) fear is quite visible to everyone today. Today, the entire country has seen that you are afraid of the increasing popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP in the country," Atishi said, adding "false cases will continue to be filed against the leaders of the party everyday".
In the last eight years, around 200 cases have been filed against various party leaders, she said.
Meanwhile, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP is attempting to weaken the 'Education Model' of Delhi by targetting Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister.
"The allegations against Sisodia are ridiculous. If someone had really taken a bribe of Rs.10,000 crore as claimed by the CBI, the money would have been found somewhere, but the CBI has not found even a penny," he said.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said it was very unfortunate that "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is afraid of Arvind Kejriwal, and therefore, all these preparations have been made to arrest Sisodia".
He alleged that AAP workers were on their way to Rajghat to express their support for the Deputy Chief Minister but they were detained on the way by the Delhi Police.
He further said that the Delhi Police also reached the homes of AAP legislators and councillors to detain them.