India News | Excise Policy Case: Day Not Far when Kejriwal Will Join Sisodia, Jain in Tihar, Says Delhi BJP
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The BJP on Friday intensified its attack on AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of being the "mastermind" of the alleged liquor policy scam as the CBI summoned him for questioning on April 16 in connection with the case.
New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) The BJP on Friday intensified its attack on AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of being the "mastermind" of the alleged liquor policy scam as the CBI summoned him for questioning on April 16 in connection with the case.
According to CBI sources, there are allegations that money raised from tweaking the policy in favour of certain liquor dealers and the South lobby was suspected to be pumped in for election purposes by the AAP, which is under the probe as part of the money trail.
Also Read | Italy: Trentino’s Bear Spared Culling Order, for Now.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, at a press conference, said the day is not far when "three friends" who miss each other -- Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain -- will sit in the same barrack of Tihar jail.
"The Delhi BJP has all along been saying that Kejriwal is the mastermind of the liquor scam in which his minister Manish Sisodia is in jail. Kejriwal is directly involved in the scam because the excise policy was approved by his Cabinet under his chairmanship," Sachdeva alleged.
He claimed that the Kejriwal government by introducing the excise policy caused a loss to Delhi's revenue and also hurt the society.
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was scrapped by the Kejriwal government soon after LG VK Saxena in July 2022 recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation. The CBI in February this year arrested former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who also held the excise portfolio in the Kejriwal government, in connection with the case.
Satyendar Jain, a former minister in the Kejriwal government, is also in jail for nearly a year following his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case.
The AAP dispensation has termed the probe by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the excise policy a "move by Modi government to obstruct good works of Delhi government in health and education sectors".
Sachdeva said the investigation into the liquor scam case has now reached its decisive phase and "the day is not far when Kejriwal will join Sisodia and Jain in Tihar".
BJP MP Parvesh Verma asked why was the AAP government paying massive fees to lawyers to defend it in the courts if it had done nothing wrong.
How can Kejriwal escape responsibility when Sisodia, who was his deputy, is in jail over alleged irregularities in a policy approved by his own cabinet, Verma asked.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)