Centre hatching conspiracy to arrest Kejriwal, Satyendar Jain and me: Manish Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged on Thursday that the Centre was "hatching a conspiracy" to arrest Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain and him by "misusing" the probe agencies, a day after Kejriwal's former principal secretary Rajendra Kumar accused the CBI of "putting pressure" on him to "implicate" the chief minister.

He also alleged that the BJP-led central government was "hell-bent on destroying" the elected Delhi government and added that the people of the five poll-bound states -- Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand -- will "teach the saffron party a lesson".

Referring to Kumar's letter, Sisodia claimed that his case was an indication that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah were "afraid" of the AAP government in Delhi. "Do not compete with us with conspiracies, instead of policies. You (Centre) and us should go for a constructive competition and let's see, who wins," he told a press conference at his residence.

In a letter to the Delhi Chief Secretary on Wednesday, Kumar sought voluntary retirement from service and accused the CBI of "putting pressure" on him to implicate Kejriwal and beating up dozens of people during its probe into a graft case, charges rejected by the probe agency.