The CBI is "scared" of Manish Sisodia, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said, referring to the inquiry initiated by the agency against his deputy.
On his part, Sisodia dared the investigating agency to arrest him. The preliminary enquiry was merely a tool to stall reforms in Delhi's education sector, he said.
"Manish kept waiting for CBI, but it did not come. Till now, people used to be scared of CBI, for the first time CBI is scared of someone," Kejriwal tweeted.
Sisodia said he was being punished for creating world class facilities for school children "unlike governments" who push them towards "drugs".
"My work scares them. I invited them to come and arrest me. They should understand that they are affecting the future of 26 lakh children of Delhi and causing me no personal harm. The moment we vowed to arrest Punjab Minister (Vikram) Majithia they made arrangements to arrest me," he said, addressing an event.
Meanwhile, asked about the CBI enquiry against his daughter Saumya over her appointment as adviser to the Mohalla Clinic project, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, "It seems Jung has got nothing out of the 400 files he had sought."
Yesterday, the CBI registered preliminary enquiries against Sisodia and Saumya Jain in two separate cases.
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The Delhi government today refuted allegations of irregularities based on which CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry against Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, asserting that no consultant was hired by the AAP dispensation especially for social media campaign "Talk to AK".
A senior official said that through proper tender, a public relations company was appointed by the government in June last year to publicise its works for a period of one year while 'Talk to AK" was held in July.
Government also denied that Rs 1.5 crore was spent on social media campaign 'Talk to Campaign'.
"As government doesn't have any expertise in dealing with social media campaign, the hired PR company had assured government that it will manage social media campaign 'Talk to AK'.
"Besides, payments are also made through credit card to Facebook and Google for any such campaign which government usually does not do," the official said.
"The government has not made payments of Rs 98 lakh to the company so far. The bill is still pending with the government. Government strongly refutes allegation of any irregularity in social media campaign 'Talk to AK'," a government spokesperson said.
Yesterday, the preliminary enquiry was registered by the CBI based on a complaint filed by the Vigilance Department of the Delhi government.
The complaint alleged that a consultant of a well-known public relations company was hired by the Delhi government to promote "Talk to AK" (Talk to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal) campaign and a proposal of Rs 1.5 crore was prepared for this purpose.
It alleged that despite objections from the Principal Secretary, the government went ahead with the proposal and the consultant spent the money thereby creating a liability for the government.
"There were some objections from Principal Secretary (Finance). Finally, the decision was taken by the Delhi Cabinet which can overrule the advice of any officer. It was a policy decision," sources said.
Meanwhile, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party has slammed the BJP, saying that the CBI inquiry against Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain's daughter by a "rattled" BJP government is the "clearest indicator" that AAP will sweep Punjab and Goa in the upcoming Assembly polls.
AAP Delhi Convenor Dilip Pandey told a press conference that CBI action was also a manifestation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "fears" over AAP's "imminent electoral success".
