New Delhi (PTI): AAP on Friday demanded that the BJP should apologise to the country for keeping a "staunchly honest" leader like Arvind Kejriwal in jail, and said the Supreme Court order granting him bail in the excise policy case has exposed the BJP's "lies".

At a joint press conference here, senior AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the Supreme Court order granting bail to Kejriwal was a moment of "big relief" for the party and its leaders and workers.

"It is not just the issue of bail granted to Kejriwal. The court has also given a big message to the BJP-led Centre to stop its dictatorship," he said.

He said the top court order is important not just for AAP but also as an assurance that if anyone resorted to "dictatorship", the Supreme Court would ensure the dominance of the Constitution.

The BJP was using the agencies to keep Kejriwal in jail, Sisodia alleged, adding that the CBI deliberately arrested Kejriwal to keep him in prison.

"The BJP intended to keep Kejriwal in jail, so the CBI arrested him after he got bail in the ED case. The CBI fulfilled the intentions of the BJP," the AAP leader alleged.

"The bail order is a big slap on the BJP's face. The court noted that the CBI was acting like a caged parrot," Sisodia said.

He said the BJP should introspect as it has been "completely exposed" and "apologise to the country for keeping a staunchly honest leader like Kejriwal in jail".

On the BJP's reaction to the bail order that the apex court granted the AAP national convenor conditional bail and that he continues to be an accused in the corruption case, the former deputy chief minister said, "BJP is talking about bail conditions imposed on Kejriwal because it is scared."

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh claimed that the whole excise policy case was based on a foundation of "lies" to "defame Kejriwal and finish off the Aam Aadmi Party".

"Kejriwal's bail granted by the Supreme Court is proof that the BJP's mountain of lies has now collapsed," he said.

"AAP will the defeat of the BJP in the Haryana and Delhi polls. Kejriwal's presence will strengthen us," Singh added.

 

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Bengaluru, Sept 17: MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has suggested that to bring down the exorbitant cost barricading – estimated to cost around Rs 1.3 to Rs 1.5 crore per kilometre – railway lines could be used to construct fences on Tuesday.

Wadiyar took to X to share the letter he had sent to Union Environment Forest & Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav.

Stating that “railway (lines) barricading” is proving to be an effective way to restrict the movement of elephants, he suggested that this should be taken up on a large scale.

“Upon consultation with the relevant authorities, it has come to my understanding that the cost of barricading per kilometre comes to Rs 1.3 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. Given that the border of the forests in my constituency stretches to over 400 km, with around 280 km of forest border requiring immediate barricading, the cost of such an exercise will reach Rs 350 crore to Rs 400 crore,” he wrote in his letter.

He said the environment ministry could make a direct request with the railway ministry for an allocation of railway lines, thus reducing the cost of the project to just that of labour cost.

“The benefits of this initiative are manifold, from reduction of human casualties, protection of property and livelihood, to conservation of elephants and, most importantly, promoting human-elephant coexistence, which is the need of the hour,” he added.

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