Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal broke down in tears on Friday after a Delhi court dismissed him and his former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, along with 21 others, in the CBI case linked to… Delhi tax policy for 2021-22. But any idea that this would attract sympathy — and even unity — across the opposition spectrum was quickly lost to memes and vitriol.
Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sabal wondered if Kejriwal’s tears carried “a little remorse as well” as he had made accusations against the party over the years, especially at the time of the AAP’s launch in 2011-12.
“The false accusations, the fake Messiah, the hollow Lokpal – they were all part of the charade he orchestrated,” Sabal wrote on X. He said Kejriwal’s early political career was built by targeting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and late Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Congress questions past record
Congress spokesman Pawan Khera was more blunt, suggesting that the CBI, controlled by the BJP-led Centre, may have intentionally weakened its case. “This is the BJP’s playbook: vendettas as governance and agencies as campaign tools,” Khera wrote on X.
“Actions taken against their ‘proper allies’ in the APC and others will quietly disappear in view of the Gujarat and Punjab elections,” Khaira said.
He noted that recently The Enforcement Directorate has moved to fast-track action against Congress leader P Chidambaram in the Aircel Maxis and INX Media cases ahead of the Tamil Nadu elections.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinath sought to mock Kajriwal for his sentimentality. In a meme on
The AAP chief responds by asking Vadra
Kejriwal did not allow Congress’ statements to pass, while also accusing the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of hatching a conspiracy against him.
“I want to ask Congress – Kejriwal went to jail; Did Robert Vadra go to jail? (AAP leader) Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Rahul Gandhi go to jail?… What is Congress saying? Isn’t he ashamed?” He said at a news conference hours after he emerged from the Ross Avenue Courthouse.
Robert Vadra, the businessman and husband of Congresswoman Priyanka Gandhi, has been accused of corruption by the BJP for years, as have Rahul and Sonia who have faced questioning but no jail time so far.
The AAP allied itself with the Congress as part of the India Caucus ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, but has since remained cool about its leadership of the national opposition. The fact that the two parties are on opposite sides in Punjab and elsewhere seems to be the main reason for this.
Punjab dimension
Punjab is among the factors that form the core of this political exchange. Assembly elections in the state are scheduled early next year, and the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government has the Congress as the main opposition there.
Congress leader Sabal specifically raised a question about the AAP’s track record in Punjab, alleging that the Mann government’s actions mirror those of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. “In Punjab, the AAP government has continued to abuse the police against the media in the same way that Modi is notorious for,” Sabal wrote on X.
congress, The Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP accused the AAP government in Punjab of using state agencies as a weapon. More recently, the RJD government faced accusations of deploying Punjab Police to “administer” election results during the December 2025 zila parishad and block samiti elections.
The AAP government has been hitting back at the accusations, and CM Mann said: “We are only going after the corrupt people who have mercilessly looted the state’s wealth.” He described the investigations as a “cleansing act” and not a political campaign.
What the Ross Avenue Court ruled
As for relief for Kejriwal and others on Friday, the CBI went to the Delhi High Court Against the eviction order.
In its order, the Ross Avenue Special Court delivered a sweeping ruling, with Justice Jitender Singh ruling that the prosecution had failed to disclose “even the threshold of prima facie doubt, let alone serious doubt” required to frame the charges.
The FIR was originally registered in August 2022 based on a complaint filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who alleged that the excise policy was designed to favor a select group of liquor licensees and caused losses to the public exchequer.
Non-Kung Open Voices for Kejriwal
Kejriwal received support from opposition parties outside the Congress.
The Modi government’s “weaponisation of investigative agencies as instruments of political vendetta has come fully exposed”, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) said, saying it was a relief for AAP leaders that there was nothing in the case “beyond the pursuit of opposition votes out of vendetta”.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra posted on X: “Satyamev Jayate! BJP is learning your lesson while there is still time – all your ED, your CBI puppets will die in the face of truth.”
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is among those discharged, said simply: “This was a web of lies. The judiciary has immediately cut it off.”
