The Pioneer - Delhi

Amid the ongoing war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over excise policy of the AAP-led Delhi Government, the BJP and the Congress on Saturday staged a protest demanding Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s resignation over the alleged corruption in implementation of the government’s new excise policy. The Delhi BJP protested at the residence of Sisodia while the Congress held a protest outside the AAP office at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.

The BJP workers led by Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta, Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and former Delhi BJP president Vijendra Gupta staged a protest outside the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. The workers in large numbers, carrying placards and party flags, raised slogans against the Delhi government and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. There was heavy deployment of police personnel and para-military force to prevent any untoward incident. The police had placed barricades on the road to prevent the protesters from moving towards Sisodia’s residence.  Visuals on social media showed Delhi BJP workers, who were protesting outside Sisodia’s residence, breaking barricades put up by Delhi Police. Later, they were detained by the police, who put them in a bus, and took them away.

During the protest, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal government was involved in “massive” corruption to benefit liquor companies. “In the excise policy of the Kejriwal government, the liquor licensees were earlier provided 2.5 per cent commission that was raised to 12.5 per cent for direct benefit of 10 per cent to liquor mafia,” Gupta claimed.

He said by allowing liquor shops in residential areas, schools and religious places, the government violated all moral norms and rules. Leader of Opposition, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, alleged there was a scam of thousands of crores in operation of the excise policy and demanded Sisodia’s resignation. Bidhuri said Kejriwal government has helped a large number of liquor vends come up in the city in clear violation of Master Plan.

The Delhi Congress also staged a protest outside the AAP office here, demanding the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over alleged violation of rules and procedural lapses in the Kejriwal government’s Excise Policy, 2021-22. Several Delhi Congress leaders and workers gathered near the DDU Marg office of the AAP, holding banners and raising slogans against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Sisodia.

The latest episode marks yet another flashpoint between the AAP and BJP, and comes at a time when the L-G, who is appointed by the central government (in this case, the BJP’s), has denied Kejriwal permission to travel to Singapore to attend the ‘World Cities Summit’ scheduled for next month.