Signalling a major churn in the Aam Aadmi Party and the Delhi government, two ministers of the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet currently in custody on allegations of corruption — Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain — on Tuesday sent their resignations to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accepted their resignations, officials said.
The development comes hours after the Supreme Court denied immediate relief to Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who handles 18 departments in the Delhi government, in a plea challenging his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi excise policy case and asked him to approach the Delhi High Court.
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Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on Sunday evening in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22. He was remanded to CBI custody on Monday.
Jain, on the other hand, has been in judicial custody in a case of alleged money laundering and has been housed at Tihar Jail since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate 9 months ago.
The development comes just ahead of the Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly which is expected to be called soon. Sisodia, who handles the Finance portfolio, was slated to present the Budget for the year.
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Rules allow for the Cabinet to have seven ministers, including the CM. The other ministers besides Kejriwal include Kailash Gahlot, Gopal Rai, Raaj Kumar Anand and Imran Hussain.