Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said that the alleged Delhi excise scam is one of the “biggest thefts”. Sidhu said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal skipping the Enforcement Directorate’s summons is like “chor ki daadhi mein tinka”.
“There is no bigger truth than this. That is why I call this ‘chori aur seena jori’. And him (Kejriwal) not going to the ED office today is like ‘chor ki dadhi mein tinka‘,” Sidhu told India Today TV.
Sidhu spoke about the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy and alleged that “just a month of chori was Rs 400 crore”.
“The AAP bought a policy, then they withdrew it. The new excise policy was there for around 2.5-3 months. Alcohol was privatised in every nook and corner. Now, the figure of this policy is astounding. The policy was made for 5 years, but only a month of ‘chori’ is Rs 400 crore. If this was allowed to go on, then the figure would have been around Rs 4000 crore per year,” Sidhu alleged.
Sidhu further said that a year before the new excise policy was brought in, Rs 7,860 crore was sale and Rs 3,878 was revenue from excise. “But, the year they withdrew the old policy and bring in the new policy, the sales increase to Rs 13,500 crore, but the state’s revenue is 300 crore. How is the revenue down?” Sidhu questioned.
“There is no bigger theft than this,” Navjot Singh Sidhu said. “If there was any wrong allegation against the AAP’s policy, then why didn’t they go to court? They withdrew the policy in Delhi.”
The Congress leader said that the same liquor policy was implemented in Punjab. “The sign happened in Delhi,” Navjot Sidhu said.
He said personally he was not in favour of alcohol in Punjab, but added that “if alcohol is being sold, then the revenue should go to the state and not to some individuals.”
Notably, both the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress are part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc. When asked about the Opposition alliance, Sidhu said, “In chess, rook doesn’t speak. You go ask Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge.”