New Delhi: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party upped the ante against the AAP-led Delhi government over the Capital's new Excise Policy, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday strongly condemned the Delhi BJP "vandalising public buses" and "puncturing their tyres" — saying that these acts showed the "criminal mindset" and "anti-people nature" of the party.
Sisodia alleged that the BJP was in cahoots with the liquor mafia — with whom they purportedly collaborated to make money off of illicit liquor sales. The Deputy CM and Finance Minister of Delhi said that such illegal liquor operations were resulting in a loss of over Rs 3,500 crore to the Delhi government, which it could make if the businesses were accounted for.
He said that these illegal liquor operations were resulting in Rs 3,500 crore revenue theft — something that has been stopped owing to the Delhi government's new Excise Policy.
"The BJP is surely feeling pain because their theft has been plugged... BJP has been completely jolted by the new excise policy. BJP leaders will not be able to fill their pockets illegally and are now crying loudly," Sisodia said as party colleagues such as Dilip Pandey also accused the BJP of the same on Twitter.
Countering the BJP's narrative that the Delhi government had paved the way for Delhi to be "flooded with liquor stores", the senior AAP leader said that their government had not opened a single new liquor store in the city since 2015. He went on to add that according to RTI responses, there are now fewer liquor shops operating in the Capital compared to when the old Excise regime was in place.
Speaking of the illegal liquor business, the Deputy CM said that there were about 2 lakh such outfits in Delhi earlier and through continued action and this new policy, this has been stopped. He said 7 lakh illicit liquor bottles were seized, 1,864 FIRs have been registered and 1,000 vehicles have been impounded for being part of the illicit liquor business here.
"I strongly condemn the hooliganism that the BJP created on the streets of Delhi today... This period of the pandemic is to serve the public and not to become a criminal, harass the public and damage government property," the Dy CM added.