Kejriwal cannot escape responsibility for liquor scam under his govt: BJP

New Delhi, Mar 14 (PTI) The BJP fired a fresh salvo at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, saying he cannot escape responsibility for the “liquor scam” under his government.

Delhi BJP’s working president Virendra Sachdeva said Kejriwal never cared to reply to the “grave questions” raised by the saffron party over the “liquor scam” and defended former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is currently in jail in connection with a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy for the national capital.

Sachdeva asked Kejriwal why the wholesale liquor business in Delhi was handed over to private players, despite a technical committee’s recommendation that it should be handled by the government.

Why was the commission of wholesalers raised from 5 per cent to 12 per cent against the recommendation of the committee, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader asked.

“Kejriwal is the mastermind of the liquor scam and he cannot escape the probe,” he said, citing a statement of Sisodia’s personal assistant that the decision to raise the commission was taken at a meeting at the chief minister’s residence.

Sachdeva also sought Kejriwal’s clarification on whether an amount of Rs 100 crore earned from the “scam” was used by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Goa Assembly polls held last year and the party’s connection with a private media company.

No immediate reaction of the AAP was available to the charges levelled against it by the BJP.

The saffron party has mounted a sustained attack on the AAP and the Kejriwal government over the alleged “scam” related to the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.

The policy was withdrawn by the AAP government last year after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation. Sisodia, one of the accused in a case registered by the CBI in connection with the excise policy, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week.