BJP tears into AAP over Delhi excise policy, calls it a conspiracy

Hitting out at the AAP government over the now-scrapped excise policy, the BJP on Tuesday said it will raise awareness on the "conspiracy" that was hatched to "toy" with the future of youths in Delhi by allowing "proliferation" of liquor vends.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, the party's national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the "proponents of new politics" didn't even refrain from taking steps that would have drowned Delhi youths in a state of inebriation.

He said the party has decided to raise awareness on the issue, as "for us, it is not just a issue of corruption", but is also about the "future of youths in Delhi".

Trivedi tore into Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI on Sunday evening in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22.

"It must be an unusual thing, that in Delhi 'Shiksha Mantri' (education minister) and 'Sharab Mantri' (excise minster) are the same," he said, taking a dig at Sisodia, who holds both the portfolios.

The AAP used to claim that they were "proponents of new politics" and they didn't even refrain in taking steps that would have "drowned Delhi's youths in a state of inebriation".

The liquor policy that they had brought incentivised consumption of alcohol, vends were opened close to residential areas, schools and religious sites, the BJP alleged.

The AAP traces its genesis in the India Against Corruption movement that Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia and several others were a part of 10 years ago.

The saffron party has often attacked the ruling AAP in Delhi over the now-scrapped liquor policy.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri on Monday had demanded that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal immediately remove his two arrested ministers -- Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain -- from the cabinet.

Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges in May last year.

The Delhi cabinet should be "reshuffled immediately", he said.