Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary (Twitter @Ch_AnilKumarINC)After the BJP, the Congress has decided to start a campaign against the now-shelved excise policy of the AAP government. Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary said the party would be holding panchayats in various Delhi Assembly constituencies, demanding the resignation of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
Chaudhary said that Delhi Congress vehemently objected to the Arvind Kejriwal government’s move to make Delhi “Nashe Ki Rajdhani” after the new policy was implemented by Excise Minister Sisodia, by holding protests, agitations and dharnas. He said the party would again hold door-to-door and phol-khol campaigns.
This comes on the heels of the Congress’s continuous accusations against the BJP for “using the investigating agencies for political gains and toppling state governments”.
“This is the problem, BJP has misused the investigating agencies that even genuine cases look politically motivated,” he said.
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Sources in the Congress, however, said that Congress also sees a political gain from the whole episode as the Aam Aadmi Party mostly dented the Congress vote bank and the party in the next election in Delhi, which is the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, hopes to make a comeback by building a campaign against AAP.
“At the central level, Congress is still better placed than AAP. We will come back stronger in 2024 or MCD polls whichever is held next,” said a senior Congress leader.
Congress vice president Abhishek Dutt said, “Firstly, it is a clear case of corruption, and secondly, when has Congress stood in support of any party when they themselves have faced the wrath of these agencies.”
Meanwhile, the BJP also held meetings at Parpatganj against the liquor policy in Parpatganj.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said it’s shocking to see that Arvind Kejriwal came to power promising to fight corruption but today his own government is engaged in corruption. “Kejriwal promised that he will not let a single corrupt MLA into the Assembly, but today, two tainted Ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain are part of his cabinet,” he told the gathering.
In 2021, the Kejriwal government formed a committee under its then Excise Commissioner Ravi Dhawan seeking suggestions for a new liquor policy. The committee recommended that the government should retain its control over the wholesale liquor trade, and liquor manufacturers should not be allowed to open retail shops but Kejriwal and Sisodia refused to follow the recommendations.
Sisodia not only handed wholesale liquor trade to private operators but increased their commission from 2% to 12%, those in this business openly allege that a lot of cash exchanged hands between dealers and the government, he said. They allowed several liquor manufacturers to open their bogus firms across the city. They gave licences to several blacklisted companies too, he added.