Former Delhi chief minister Atishi responded on Tuesday to the CAG report presented in the assembly, asserting that the BJP-led government is reiterating AAP’s previous statements regarding losses from the old excise policy.
Addressing a press conference soon after the CAG report was tabled in the Delhi assembly, the leader of opposition in the assembly said that liquor was brought illegally from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh under the old policy.
“The excise audit report was presented in the Delhi Assembly today. Its seven chapters are on the excise policy from 2017-21, and one chapter is on the new excise policy. The Delhi government had exposed the flaws and corruption of the old excise policy to the people of Delhi. Under that policy, liquor was brought illegally from Haryana and UP. We all know whose government is there in these states and who must be getting the profit,” Atishi said.
Also read: ‘Rs 2,000cr revenue loss due to liquor policy’: Key findings of CAG report tabled in Delhi assembly
“This report is repeating the same thing that we said that the people of Delhi are incurring losses due to the old policy. This policy makes it clear that the AAP government took the right decision by removing the old policy,” she added.
“This report is repeating the same thing that we said that the people of Delhi are incurring losses due to the old policy. This policy makes it clear that the AAP government took the right decision by removing the old policy,” she added.
Atishi claimed that the report validates their stance on Delhi’s losses under the old policy, justifying AAP’s decision to discontinue it.
“This report has confirmed our point. There was corruption in how much liquor was being sold. This report shows that more than 28 percent of corruption was being done by the contractors, and the money was going into the pockets of the brokers,” Atishi said.
“This report shows that black marketing of liquor was happening, and everyone knew which party people had the liquor contracts. The liquor contractors made profits by calculating the cost price in an incorrect manner,” it added.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party slammed AAP over the alleged liquor scam and said that the previous Delhi government disregarded numerous rules for the “strong desire to engage in liquor brokerage.”
Speaking at a press conference, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari criticised AAP, citing rule violations and revenue losses of approximately Rs 890 crore due to lack of re-tendering.
“The desire to engage in liquor brokerage was so strong in life that they disregarded numerous rules for it. I was reading that the lack of re-tendering resulted in a loss of approximately 890 crores. In all these matters, today Delhi is realising that this was the reason Arvind Kejriwal was trying to hide the CAG report, which led to a loss in Delhi’s revenue,” Tiwari said
“The methods adopted for this show how notorious a criminal Arvind Kejriwal is. The commission rates of 5 percent and 12 percent, which initially benefited the government more, later started favoring liquor sellers. It needs to be understood. This is a new way of corruption in the country that has increased under Arvind Kejriwal, where they receive higher commissions. Because they have figured out how to take it back later, the entire crime investigation is ongoing. Wherever it goes, it will be discovered. But a person who was rumored to be an income tax officer seems to be a master at committing crimes. After that, there is a significant educational aspect,” he added.
This comes after the Delhi government led by chief minister Rekha Gupta tabled the CAG report on the Delhi Excise Policy.
One of the 14 pending CAG reports on the previous Aam Aadmi Party government’s performance, claimed that the now scrapped liquor policy caused a cumulative loss of Rs 2,002.68 crore to the government exchequer.
The report observed that the AAP government committed serious policy lapses, procedural violations, and ignored expert recommendations. It also accused former excise minister Manish Sisodia of “disregarding key suggestions” from an expert panel while formulating the now-scrapped liquor policy.