Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party working president Virendra Sachdeva.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Continuing its attack on the Aam Aadmi Party over the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded a probe into the role of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in the case.
At a press conference, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said his party has raised several questions on the excise policy, but Mr. Kejriwal has been avoiding them.
He added, “Today we ask four new questions based on the latest Enforcement Directorate report to the Kejriwal government.”
The BJP leader asked why the government gave the wholesale liquor business to private players, even after an “expert committee proposed the government to keep it with itself”.
He questioned Mr. Kejriwal over raising the commission of wholesalers to 12% without approval, despite the committee’s recommendation of 5%. “This happened at the behest of Mr. Kejriwal at his own house. C. Arvind, the former secretary to [AAP leader] Manish Sisodia, told this to the ED in his statement.”
Mr. Sachdeva said Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K. Kavitha claimed to have nothing to do with the scam, but she has not clarified her links with four accused in the case, namely Vijay Nair, Arun Pillai, Buchi Babu and Dinesh Arora.
Alleging that AAP “spent ₹100 crore during the Goa Assembly elections” last year, the Delhi BJP chief also demanded to know the party’s relations with Chariot Production Media Pvt. Ltd, a private media company.
No immediate response was issued by AAP to the BJP’s questions.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP media relations head Harish Khurana told reporters that Mr. Singh’s name had come up during the ED probe. “Dinesh Arora said in his statement [to the ED] that after Sanjay Singh told him that AAP needs funds for upcoming elections in Delhi, he asked Mr. Singh that the timings of restaurants be extended till 3 a.m.,” Mr. Khurana alleged.
