Kejriwal’s silence on corruption charges proves he’s ‘hardcore dishonest’, alleges BJP

PTI, Aug 22, 2022, 7:32 PM IST

The BJP on Monday fired a fresh salvo at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, alleging there were several discrepancies between what was recommended by the panel on excise policy and what was implemented by the AAP government.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Kejriwal’s silence on corruption charges proves that he is ”hardcore dishonest”.

Taking a dig at Kejriwal, Bhatia said whoever the Delhi chief minister declared as ”kattar imandar” goes to jail. The chief minister and AAP national convener had termed his cabinet minister Satyendar Jain a ”kattar imandar” and he is currently in jail in a case of money laundering.

Kejriwal has also dubbed Sisodia a hardcore honest person and ”the best” education minister in the world.

He said the ”arrogance” of Arvind Kejriwal will be shattered by the people of Delhi whose questions he is not answering.

”Earlier, we had given 24 hours to him to respond to the charges. If he’s ‘kattar imandar’ (hardcore honest man) why is he not answering the questions being raised. Only one tweet has come up which is meaningless. We again give 24 hours to Kejriwal to answer questions on charges of corruption in the Delhi excise policy,” he said.

Referring to the Delhi excise policy, he said the AAP leader was ”breaking records in corruption” (‘bhrashtachar ka kirtiman’).

He also alleged that there are many discrepancies in what was recommended by the panel on Delhi excise policy and what the AAP government implemented.

A lottery system was to be adopted for awarding contract in retail vending. The city was divided into 32 zones, Bhatia said and showed documents of both the policy as well as the recommendations of the panel.

The lottery system wasn’t followed by the Kejriwal government and zones were awarded to ”some” industrialists which is worrisome, he alleged.

”And, the silence of Kejriwal on corruption charges in excise policy proves that he is hardcore dishonest (‘kattar beiman’),” Bhatia alleged.

Bhatia said Kejriwal was diverting the issue and not answering questions raised over the excise policy.

He questioned why wholesale liquor commission was raised from 2.5 per cent to 12 per cent, and licence fee of Rs 144 crore was waived.

”Kejriwal should tell whether he or Kattar Imandar Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia will compensate the loss of revenue due to these decisions.” The BJP has vigorously raised the issue and vowed to expose the corruption of AAP, Bhatia said and added the guilty will be put behind bars, he said.

BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri who was also present at the press conference asked why Kejriwal was not answering the questions being raised on the excise policy.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently probing the framing and implementation of the Delhi Excise Police 2021-22 and has raided the house of Sisodia and other locations.

The Aam Aadmi Party has denied the charges and targeted the central government over the CBI raids.