CM’s Singapore visit: AAP leader hits out at Centre

NEW DELHI: A day after the lieutenant governor rejected Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s request to visit Singapore for a summit, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “blocking” CM’s visit alleging that it is the Centre’s “insecurity” that was hampering the country’s image globally.   

Delhi L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena had on Thursday written to Kejriwal “advising” him not to go for the World Cities Summit to be held in Singapore in the first week of August, stating that it was a conference of mayors and that all the subjects covered did not fall under the purview of the Delhi government.

“CM Arvind Kejriwal has been invited to present the Delhi model of governance before global leaders in Singapore but the PM is playing every trick in the book to stop him. This isn’t just a disgrace but a disrespect of the people of Delhi,” Bharadwaj, party’s chief spokesperson, said during a press conference.

He further said that one and a half month ago, the High Commissioner of Singapore met Kejriwal. Various issues which are common to Delhi and Singapore were discussed between the two leaders. The PM does not want Kejriwal to get praised at the international level, but in turn, he is denying the praise which India would have got from the global leaders, Bharadwaj alleged.

“Whenever the PM goes on a foreign trip, his event management team already starts the groundwork before he lands. They made the people rehearse raising slogans in his name. Instead, the slogans should be raised in the country’s name. The PM goes on more than a dozen foreign trips. There is not a single month when he doesn’t go on a foreign trip. I am assured that he needs a new passport every year because the older one gets filled with new visas really quickly. He is so insecure that he could not allow the CM to present the Delhi model in front of thousands of leaders at a global summit,” he said.

AAP violated rules and promoted cartelisation of liquor sale: Lekhi
NEW DELHI: The Arvind Kejriwal government violated rules and procedures and promoted cartelisation to benefit liquor firms in Delhi, Union minister and senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi alleged on Friday.Hitting out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who defended his deputy and Excise Minister Manish Sisodia after a CBI probe into the Excise Policy 2021-22 was recommended by Lt Governor VK Saxena, she said a “scam” in the liquor trade in Delhi led to huge losses to the public exchequer.

“The AAP government violated rules and procedures to promote cartelisation to benefit liquor companies in Delhi,” Lekhi said, and claimed that a waiver of over `144.36 crore was given to licensees and earnest money deposit worth `30 crore of one company was refunded without following rules and processes. At a press briefing, Kejriwal claimed Sisodia will be framed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a fake case and defended him as “Kattar Imandar” (dead honest person) who developed world class education in Delhi.