The BJP launched a fresh wave of attacks against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) revealed that the Delhi government incurred a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore due to the excise policy under the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva accused AAP of orchestrating a large-scale scam and attempting to suppress the report’s findings.
“The day finally came, and Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi, and Manish Sisodia were trying to ignore it. Today, their black deeds are out in public. This report has proved how AAP leaders have looted Delhi,” he said.
Sachdeva alleged that AAP deliberately bypassed rules, leading to a Rs 900 crore loss due to the opening of liquor shops in non-conforming areas. “They broke all rules and regulations to pass illegal policies, diverting public money into their pockets even amid COVID-19,” he added.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari escalated the attack, accusing Kejriwal of masterminding a Rs 2,000 crore scam. “In 2013, Kejriwal used a CAG report to remove Sheila Dikshit. Now that the truth about his own corruption is out, why was he hiding this report?” he questioned.
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal also joined the chorus, saying Rs 27 crore was lost due to the non-submission of security deposits and that liquor licences were granted without proper scrutiny. “One man was given 50 liquor shops—something unprecedented in Delhi. Fake liquor was sold due to cartelisation,” he claimed.
BJP leaders also claimed that cracks were emerging within AAP, with nine MLAs reportedly planning to quit the party. Their absence from the Delhi Assembly session has further fuelled speculation.
The CAG report, one of 14 assessing the previous Aam Aadmi Party government’s performance, was tabled by the newly elected BJP Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on just the second day of the Assembly’s first session.
The 208-page report, including annexures, flagged violations in the licencing process and highlighted that the recommendations of an expert panel–formed to propose changes for the now-scrapped excise policy–were ignored by then Deputy Chief Minister and Excise Minister Manish Sisodia.
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