When a new Excise Policy was introduced by AAP, the party only shed light on the positives of the policy. But not all seemed hunky dory. There were allegations of corruption in the name of a new policy. As soon as details were sought from the AAP government, the party rolled back its policy.
Impact of CBI nod against the New Excise Policy
Just a week back, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. This directly holds Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia legally accountable as he is in charge of the excise department. Seeing the legal trouble mounting against the controversial, “money minting” Excise Policy, the Delhi government has taken a sharp U-turn. With just 2 days left in the expiry of Excise Policy 2021-22, the Delhi government has reverted to the old regime for the next 6 months.
Also Read: As predicted by Kejriwal, Sisodia comes under CBI’s radar
Delhi govt to revert to old liquor policy
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/VbhPD90k7q#DelhiLiqourPolicy #DelhiGovernment #AAPGovernment #ManishSisodia pic.twitter.com/cuShIAiCpV
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) July 30, 2022
Deputy CM Sisodia addressed a press conference on this issue. He informed about the state governments’ sharp u-turn. He also added that from August 1st, liquor will be sold only through government-run shops.
Schrodinger's Liquor Policy. Or as Varun Grover put it once: "Meri billi bolta hai yeh to unpredictible hai." pic.twitter.com/GQNGjmxwDU
— Nemo (@NonsensicalNemo) July 30, 2022
Also Read: If Satyendra Jain deserves a Padma Vibhushan, then Arvind Kejriwal certainly deserves an Oscar
Sisodia said, “We have decided to withdraw the new policy and ordered liquor to be sold only through government-run shops. We have done this so that no one can sell illegal or spurious liquor in the capital. I have ordered the state chief secretary to ensure there is no corruption”.
Liquor will be sold only through govt shops, says Sisodia as AAP withdraws excise policy
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/BhWWqPf7au#DelhiGovernment #AAPGovernment #ManishSisodia #LiquorPolicy pic.twitter.com/qfVUVsXkb9
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) July 30, 2022
Also Read: Is Kejriwal trying to clip Sisodia’s wings by raking up his corruption case?
The current controversial excise policy was passed in haste during the peak of the deadly Covid outbreak in 2021. Back then the health care of the state was in doldrums. Everything was getting out of hand for the Delhi government, yet the Kejriwal-led cabinet prioritised and passed this excise policy for 2021-22.
Deputy CM Sisodia claimed, “Our government brought a new policy last year. Earlier, there used to be some private shops but they would be allotted to near and dear ones. We ended this system and brought a new policy. We carried out a transparent auction. We decided that like earlier there will be only 850 shops. The government used to earn a revenue of Rs 6000 crore every year but under the new policy, the revenue would have risen to Rs 9,500 crore”.
We brought a new liquor policy to stop corruption. Before that government used to get around Rs 6,000 Cr revenue from 850 liquor shops. But, after the new policy, our govt would have got more than Rs 9,000 Cr with the same number of shops: Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia pic.twitter.com/idJAwj4PyD
— ANI (@ANI) July 30, 2022
It is to be duly noted that the same controversial Excise policy was extended twice for two months each from March 21 to July 21. But the CBI nod seems to have prompted the Kejriwal government to quickly hush up the policy and revert to the old one.
Also Read: Aam Aadmi Party – Second only to Congress in Corruption
Days after #Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena recommend a #CBI probe into the implementation of the new excise policy, the government in the national capital has decided to return to the old regime of retail liquor sale in the city.@LtGovDelhi pic.twitter.com/aF7Dv99Pjv
— IANS (@ians_india) July 30, 2022
Delhi’s Lt. Governor – Proving to be the real Nayak
Earlier, the Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar highlighted some irregularities and alleged favours in this excise policy. The report submitted on 8th July accused Delhi’s Deputy CM Sisodia of providing undue benefits to liquor vend licensees in lieu of “kickbacks” and “commissions”. It claimed that the illicit money was used in the recent Punjab state assembly elections. After this detailed report from Chief Secretary, Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended CBI to probe this controversial Excise policy 2021-22, holding AAP leader and Excise Minister Sisodia accountable.
There is a famous saying that you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Apparently, it holds true for AAP. It kept doing things per its whims and fancies and passed the buck of every responsibility to the Centre because of the incompetence of the previous LGs in Delhi. But with the new LG VK Saxena, “corrupt” deeds of AAP are tumbling out of the closet. The party seems to have nothing to put as facts to save its tainted leader. It is acting in frustration and goofing up. This act of pressing the reset button won’t work and it will fail miserably in whatever it wants to hide with such flip-flops.
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