Gathered Signatures Of Over 10 Lakh Delhiites Against Leaders' Arrest: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday claimed to have collected signatures of more than 10 lakh Delhiites against the arrests of its leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain.

The signatures were collected during a door-to-door campaign launched by AAP on March 13 across Delhi to demand justice for the release of its senior leaders lodged in jail.

Party's state convener Gopal Rai said now a letter will be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark the protest.

"The people of Delhi wish to convey one message to the nation's Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Do good work and let the administration of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal work in Delhi," he said.

Delhi environment minister said Lok Sabha in-charge, district in-charge, co-ordinators, MLAs and councillors of the party visited around 2,800 polling stations in the 70 Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Delhi and collected signatures from the people.

"We set a goal of collecting roughly 10 lakh signatures of the residents of Delhi against the arrest of these two leaders to send them to the Prime Minister. Our objective was accomplished yesterday," he said.

Mr Rai said Mr Sisodia is celebrated not just in Delhi and India, but across the world for the model of education that he has presented here in the national capital. Similarly, he said Mr Jain presented an innovative model of healthcare to the country by introducing Mohalla Clinics.

"Sisodia's arrest has caused a great deal of discontent among the residents of Delhi. Many people have started to wonder why not even a notice has been issued against those against whom cases of embezzlement and forgery involving crores of rupees has taken place. When such individuals, who are already under investigation, join the BJP, their cases are closed immediately," he alleged.

Mr Rai alleged that the central investigative agencies raided the residence, office, bank locker and ancestral village of Mr Sisodia and yet found nothing to prove any crime.

Talking about the door-to-door campaign, AAP chief spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said in the last one month, all the office bearers and workers of Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi organisation worked day and night.

"We went to every house and knocked on the door and showed this letter to the people. There are more than 10 lakh letters. All these letters will be given to the Prime Minister in the form of a petition. With folded hands, I thank the people of Delhi for giving full support and blessings to the Aam Aadmi Party in this campaign," he said.

Meanwhile, residents of Mr Sisodia's Patparganj constituency have been receiving messages assuring them that all their grievances will be redressed.

"Manish Sisodia has been framed in false cases and put behind bars by the BJP. He has given a message from the jail saying that the resident of Patparganj should not be inconvenienced. Team Manish Sisodia is always with you. If you face any issue, send a whatsapp message to 9355015501," reads the SMS.

The CBI on February 26 arrested Mr Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. Mr Jain was arrested in May last year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.

Both resigned from the Delhi cabinet in February.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)