The Congress slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday, saying they came to power by defaming the late Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government and are now engaging in corruption.
In an exclusive interview with The New Indian, Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba also alleged that AAP acts as a B-Team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She said that the sole aim of AAP is to divide anti-BJP votes.
Her remarks came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against eight accused, excluding Sisodia and three officers, in connection with the new excise policy case.
“They defamed the Sheila Dikshit government on excise policy. Why did they reverse their excise policy today, when the CBI started an investigation? Now you won’t be spared by taking back the new excise policy,” Lamba told The New Indian. “This is the same AAP government that came to power by wearing the mask of being staunchly honest,” she added.
Hitting out at the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab over the issue of corruption, Lamba said that the Delhi and Punjab Health Ministers are in jail in connection with corruption cases.
“Now the Delhi Deputy CM is facing the heat for corruption due to the new excise policy 2021-22. You (Delhi government) were distributing one bottle free on buying a bottle of liquor and also distributing the licences for shops like freebies to liquor mafia. This led to a loss of ₹144 crore to the government exchequer,” she said.
While AAP has stated that the 2024 elections will be a battle between the BJP and Kejriwal, Lamba said, “They are saying that the 2024 elections are between two thugs – bigger and smaller. But the people have decided that the 2024 elections will be fought on the issues of unemployment, inflation and corruption.”
She also said that Kejriwal is working as Team B of the BJP and is trying to defeat the Congress as they did in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“They also went to other states and ensured the victory of the BJP. And after losing, they came back to Delhi. Right now, they are having a deal in the states where elections are scheduled and the BJP is losing, they should go there and divide the votes,” she added.
If the BJP wants to save them, they can, as elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are there. But now the CBI should not stop. And we will keep a close eye so that a fair probe is carried out,” she further added.
The CBI booked Sisodia, three officials and 11 others for alleged irregularities in excise policy on August 17 and carried out searches at 31 locations.