Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal broke down in tears on Friday after a Delhi court discharged him and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, along with 21 others, in the CBI case linked to the Delhi excise policy of 2021-22. Far from drawing sympathy from Opposition quarters, the moment quickly became fodder for political barbs and social media memes particularly from the Congress.
Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal questioned whether Kejriwal’s tears carried “a bit of remorse too” for the accusations he had levelled against the party over the years, especially during AAP’s launch in 2011-12. “False accusations, fake messiah, hollow Lokpal these were all part of the charade he orchestrated,” Sappal wrote on X, noting that Kejriwal had built his early political career by targeting former PM Manmohan Singh, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and the late Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit.
Congress Questions the CBI’s Intent
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera went further, suggesting the BJP-led Centre may have deliberately weakened the CBI’s case. “This is the BJP playbook: vendetta as governance and agencies as campaign tools,” Khera wrote on X. He also alleged that proceedings against AAP and others — described as “convenient allies” of the BJP would “quietly vanish” ahead of the Gujarat and Punjab elections. Khera pointed to the Enforcement Directorate’s recent move to hasten proceedings against Congress leader P Chidambaram in the Aircel Maxis and INX Media cases ahead of the Tamil Nadu polls as a parallel example.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate took a more sardonic route, sharing a meme on X featuring Kejriwal in tears complete with added sound effects while describing Rahul Gandhi as “our leader, a lion” for purportedly facing “32 cases” compared to Kejriwal’s “one case.”
Kejriwal Fires Back, Invokes Robert Vadra
Kejriwal did not let the remarks slide. At a press conference held hours after the Rouse Avenue court order, he also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of conspiring against him. “I want to ask the 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? Does it have no shame?” he said.
Robert Vadra, a businessman and husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, has faced long-standing corruption allegations from the BJP, as have Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, who have been questioned but not jailed. The AAP had allied with the Congress under the INDIA bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but has since grown cold toward the national Opposition’s leadership a friction largely attributed to the two parties being rivals in Punjab and other states.
Punjab Looms Large Over the Spat
Punjab sits at the heart of this political exchange. With state assembly elections due by early next year, the AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann faces the Congress as its principal opposition there. Sappal specifically targeted AAP’s Punjab record, alleging that the Mann government had misused police machinery against the media “in exactly the same way for which Modi is infamous.”
The Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, and BJP have all accused the AAP government in Punjab of deploying state agencies as a political weapon. Most recently, the AAP administration faced allegations of using Punjab Police to “manage” electoral outcomes during the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections in December 2025. CM Mann has consistently denied such charges, saying his government is “just nailing the corrupt who have mercilessly plundered the wealth of the state” and calling the investigations a “cleansing act.”
What the Rouse Avenue Court Ruled
The Special Court at Rouse Avenue, presided over by Judge Jitender Singh, ruled that the prosecution had failed to disclose “even the threshold of a prima facie suspicion, far less the grave suspicion” required to frame charges. The FIR had originally been registered in August 2022 on a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who alleged the excise policy was designed to favour select liquor licensees and caused losses to the public exchequer. The CBI has since moved the Delhi High Court challenging the discharge order.
Non-Congress Opposition Backs Kejriwal
Support for Kejriwal did come from non-Congress opposition parties. The CPI(M) said the Modi government’s “weaponisation of investigating agencies as tools of political vendetta stands fully exposed,” arguing the relief to AAP leaders proved there was nothing in the case beyond a “vendetta-driven witch-hunt.” Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra posted on X: “Satyamev Jayate! BJP learn your lesson while there is still time all your ED, your CBI puppets will die in the face of truth.”
K Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and herself among those discharged, offered a pointed summary: “This was a web of lies. The judiciary has cut right through it.”