People will free Delhi of Kejriwal’s corruption when they elect Congress to power on February 5—Devender Yadav

Chairman of the AICC Media and Publicity Department Shri Pawan Khera and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Shri Devender Yadav, addressing  a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan here today, played  an  audio clip of sitting AAP MLA from Narela Sharad Chauhan, who has been again fielded from the same Assembly segment, which  exposed the  involvement of Kejriwal and Sisodia in the liquor scam.

Shri Pawan Khera said that it has never happened in the history of India that a Chief Minister has committed liquor scam at the national and  international level, for which he was  jailed  before the  Supreme Court let him him out on bail with strict conditions.

Shri Pawan Khera said that the  Alcohol Affected Party (AAP) head Arvind Kejriwal, who came to power promising honesty, transparency and corruption free governance but did the opposite, was now desperately trying to prove his innocence before the voters of Delhi ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, but the Narela MLA’s audio clip has nailed him and Sisodia for the liquor scam, which has created an unerasable taint on them. Others present at the press conference were AICC secretary and Delhi In-charge Shri Sukhwinder Singh Dani, former Delhi Minister Dr Narendra Nath and AICC national spokesperson Shri Abhay Dubey.

Shri Pawan Khera said that  in the audio clip, then Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia, who was both Excise and Education Minister, tells the AAP MLA how the liquor policy was framed at the instance of Kejriwal as the party needed funds to contest elections in Goa, Gujarat and Punjab, and now funds were coming from Punjab for the Delhi Assembly elections.

Shri Pawan Khera said that only Kejriwal could have made his  Excise Minister Sisodia  also  the Education Minister, and Sisodia drove the unemployed youth into liquor  addiction with his “one bottle free for one bottle purchased” policy.  He added that Kejriwal and Sisodia destroyed Delhi through this liquor scam.

Shri Devender Yadav said that the Narela MLA’s expose against Sisodia and Kejriwal only showed social decline under the AAP Government. He said that Congress will expose  the corruption and misdoings of the  AAP leadership over the past 10 years before the people  and publicise the five Congress guarantees  ahead of the Assembly elections.

Shri Devender Yadav said that with AAP opening liquor vends all over, mothers and sisters were worried and concerned as due to unemployement youth were taking to addiction. He said that the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report on the liquor scam observed that the  liquor scam caused loss of over Rs 2000 crore  of tax payers’ money in the liquor deal. He said that  Kejriwal’s corrupt face has been exposed before the people, as his words and deeds were contrary,  and no amount of justification can erase the stain of corruption on him.  He said that the voters have decided to free Delhi from Kejriwal’s corruption by voting Congrss to power in the February 5 Assembly elections.

Shri Devender Yadav asked five questions to Kejriwal on the liquor scam:

1 Why the scam in granting licence?

There was a direct violation of Section 35 of Delhi Excise Rules 2010 which provided that licenses for wholesale, retail etc. cannot be given simultaneously to the same company or to a company in which the director is common, i.e. cross owner ship or proxy company, so that unfair practice of cartelization can be stopped.

2 Why the scam in the prices of Indian Made Foreign Liquor?

The AAP government gave a free hand to the contractor to declare ex-distillery price, that is, if a company is producing liquor, then it was given a free hand to fix the price due to which it increased the rates, whereas the same company made prices were kept low in other States, due to which sales decreased and Delhi suffered loss of revenue.

3 Why serious compromise on the quality of liquor?

The auditor found that many liquor samples were not as per BIS standard, yet licenses were given, in which heavy metals, contaminated water etc. were mixed.

4 Why was illicit liquor allowed to be sold? Why wasn’t strict action taken?-

Only country made illicit liquor was confiscated and exposed. 65 percent of the raids were conducted only for country-made illicit liquor.

5 Why was end-to-end tracking weakened? During the Congress government, in 2013, a barcode system was introduced on every bottle from inventory to the point of sale, but the Aam Aadmi Party government was lax in implementing it and transparency was ended.

6 Why were the recommendations of the expert committee thrown into the dust bin?

Instead of charging duty on every bottle, excise duty was imposed only on the license fee. The committee’s suggestion was that only 2 contracts should be given to a vendor, but the committee’s suggestion was ignored and a provision was made for a maximum of 54 contracts to a vendor.

7 Why were some contractors who left contracts ahead of schedule not retendered? Due to which there was huge loss of revenue in Delhi.