CAG report: Atishi blames old policy for corruption; BJP takes ‘black deeds’ dig

Former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi on Tuesday defended the scrapped new liquor policy after a CAG report claimed a loss of over ₹2002 crore to the national capital’s exchequer, saying the audit document exposed corruption under the old liquor policy.

She claimed the people of Delhi incurred losses because liquor was being brought in from neighbouring states illegally. The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, said the report exposed the “black deeds” of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The CAG report, which was tabled in the Delhi assembly today by CM Rekha Gupta, claimed the previous government’s decisions and liquor policy resulted in a cumulative loss of over ₹2002 crore to the national capital’s exchequer.

“The excise audit report was presented in the Delhi assembly today. Its seven chapters are on the excise policy from 2017-21, and one chapter is on the new excise policy. The Delhi government had exposed the flaws and corruption of the old excise policy to the people of Delhi. Under that policy, liquor was brought illegally from Haryana and UP… This report is repeating the same thing that we said that the people of Delhi are incurring losses due to the old policy,” she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

She claimed the CAG report confirmed AAP’s allegation of corruption in the liquor trade under the old policy.

“This report has confirmed our point. There was corruption in how much liquor was being sold. This report shows that more than 28 percent of corruption was being done by the contractors, and the money was going into the pockets of the brokers. This report shows that black marketing of liquor was happening, and everyone knew which party people had the liquor contracts. The liquor contractors made profits by incorrectly calculating the cost price,” she added.

BJP attacks Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia

Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva claimed the report showed how AAP looted and scammed the people of Delhi.

“This CAG report exposes the black deeds of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and AAP. It tells how AAP looted and scammed the people of Delhi…how they opened shops at residential and religious places,” he said.

The CAG report said the loss was incurred due to a host of reasons, including weak policy framework.

“Audit noted that due to a number of issues ranging from weak policy framework to deficient implementation of the policy…there was a cumulative loss of approximately 2,002.68 crore,” the document read.

The new liquor policy was scrapped in 2022 after Delhi LG VK Saxena ordered a probe into the alleged corruption in the implementation of the policy.