AAP govt in Delhi involved in 'liquor scam', 2 middlemen left India, alleges BJP

The Delhi BJP on Friday accused the AAP government of indulging in a ''liquor scam'' worth crores of rupees as the CBI raided Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's residence over alleged irregularities in the Excise Policy 2021-22.

The party also demanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal remove Sisodia as well as another minister Satyendar Jain, who is in judicial custody in a case of money laundering, from their posts.

West Delhi BJP MP Parvesh Verma accused Sisodia of corruption, and that ''two middlemen who used to collect cash from liquor licensees have left the country''.

''The Arvind Kejriwal government in which Manish Sisodia is (also) the excise minister raised the commission of wholesale licensees from 2 per cent to 12 per cent. ''Out of this, 12 per cent to six per cent in cash was collected for the AAP government by several persons, two of which left the country as soon as a CBI probe was recommended by the L-G,'' he alleged in a press conference.

Verma said with the CBI coming into the picture, the Delhi government withdrew the Excise Policy 2021-22 and reduced the 12 per cent commission to 2 per cent.

Credit notes were being used to siphon off the commission money from the license holders to the AAP, he alleged.

In multiple press conferences, the Delhi BJP leaders hit out at the Kejriwal government over the alleged ''liquor scam'' and claimed the money was used for the AAP's political campaigns in Punjab and other states.

Former Delhi BJP president and North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari said the CBI should also probe whether the Excise Policy was a medium for the ruling party to convert its black money into white.

''The AAP contested elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and other states with the money that it received as commission worth crores of rupees from through the scam in the new excise policy,'' Tiwari charged.

Verma also alleged the ''scam was going on with Kejriwal's knowing out it''.

''Nothing moves in the AAP without Kejriwal's nod. The CBI has concrete proof that the Kejriwal government formulated the new excise policy in nexus with the liquor mafia and indulged in corruption worth crores of rupees. The producer of this much-trumpeted policy is Kejriwal himself,'' the BJP MP claimed.

Both Kejriwal and Sisodia would never get tired of relentlessly praising the new excise policy but once the CBI probe began ''they started saying it was not good and even revoked it'', he said.

The new excise policy was withdrawn by the Kejriwal government after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its execution.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, in a tweet, alleged that even during the Covid pandemic, Sisodia was providing ''relief'' to the liquor mafia. Kejriwal should now seek resignations of both Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain, he said.

Former Union minister Harsh Vardhan said the ''massive corruption by the Kejriwal government'' will ''open'' the eyes of the people of the country.

''If the corrupt are doing their work, then the system is also doing its job and the truth will soon come out,'' he said, adding one by one, their “misdeeds” are coming out in the open.

Sisodia as well as Kejriwal earlier asserted that nothing will come out of the CBI raid, claiming they were honest and the Centre was ''harassing them and creating hurdles'' in the mission to make India the number one country in the world.