NEW DELHI: Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday rejected all charges against the Delhi Excise Policy and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “playing dirty politics” to promote the liquor mafia.
He said that the Delhi Excise Policy will expire on July 31 but officials are not ready to take it forward. “There will be no excise policy in Delhi which will allow BJP to re-establish their illegal liquor business like Gujarat.”
Drawing a parallel between the Gujarat model and the Delhi model, he said, “There are two types of excise policies in the country, first in Gujarat, a dry state where people are dying by consuming spurious liquor whereas in Delhi, the new excise policy, corruption & dominance of the illegal liquor mafia has been ended and the government’s revenue increased by 1.5 times.”
Sisodia alleged that BJP leaders threatened private liquor shop owners with inquiries by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He said that he has ordered the chief secretary to ensure that there is no corruption or any case of spurious liquor sale in the city. If any such case is reported, strict action should be taken against the culprits, the deputy CM said.
“Government will ensure that these orders are implemented strictly from August 1 to ensure only legal sale of liquor to save people from hooch tragedies.