Congress releases AAP MLA Sharad Chauhan's audio about Kejriwal involvement in Delhi liquor scam

New Delhi: Congress has released an audio clip of sitting AAP MLA Sharad Chauhan which allegedly exposed the involvement of Kejriwal and Sisodia in the Delhi liquor scam.

Sharad Chauhan has again been fielded from the Narela Assembly segment. Congress party in Delhi played the video in their press conference. It was attended by chairman of the AICC Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav.

Pawan Khera said that it has never happened in the history of India that a Chief Minister has committed a liquor scam at the national and international level, for which he was ailed before the Supreme Court let him out on bail with strict conditions.

Narela Video

Pawan Khera said that the Alcohol Affected Party (AAP) head Arvind Kejriwal, who came to power promising honesty, transparency, and corruption-free governance but did the opposite, was now desperately trying to prove his innocence before the voters of Delhi ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections.

But the Narela MLA’s audio clip has nailed him and Sisodia for the liquor scam, which has created an unerasable taint on them.

Punjab funding Delhi elections

Pawan Khera said that in the audio clip, then Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia, who was both Excise and Education Minister, tells the AAP MLA how the liquor policy was framed at the instance of Kejriwal as the party needed funds to contest elections in Goa, Gujarat, and Punjab, and now funds were coming from Punjab for the Delhi Assembly elections.

Pawan Khera said unemployed youth of Delhi are addicted to liquor due to this policy.

Congress to expose misdoings of AAP

Devender Yadav said that the Narela MLA’s expose against Sisodia and Kejriwal only showed social decline under the AAP Government. He said that Congress will expose the corruption and misdoings of the AAP leadership over the past 10 years before the people and publicize the five Congress guarantees ahead of the Assembly elections.

Yadav says, " CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report on the liquor scam observed that the liquor scam caused loss of over Rs 2000 crore of tax payers’ money.

Questions to Kejriwal

Devender Yadav asked five questions to Kejriwal on the liquor scam:

1 Why the scam in granting a licence?

There was a direct violation of Section 35 of Delhi Excise Rules 2010 which provided that licenses for wholesale, retail, etc. cannot be given simultaneously to the same company or to a company in which the director is common, i.e. cross-ownership or proxy company, so that unfair practice of cartelization can be stopped.

2 Why the scam in the prices of Indian Made Foreign Liquor?

The AAP government gave a free hand to the contractor to declare ex-distillery price, that is, if a company is producing liquor, then it was given a free hand to fix the price due to which it increased the rates, whereas the same company made prices were kept low in other States.

3 Why serious compromise on the quality of liquor?

The auditor found that many liquor samples were not as per BIS standards, yet licenses were given, in which heavy metals, contaminated water,r, etc. were mixed.

4 Why was illicit liquor allowed to be sold? Why wasn't strict action taken?-

Only country-made illicit liquor was confiscated and exposed. 65 percent of the raids were conducted only for country-made illicit liquor.

5 Why was end-to-end tracking weakened? During the Congress government, in 2013, a barcode system was introduced on every bottle from inventory to the point of sale, but the Aam Aadmi Party government was lax in implementing it and transparency was ended.

6 Why were the recommendations of the expert committee thrown into the dustbin?

Instead of charging duty on every bottle, excise duty was imposed only on the license fee. The committee suggested that only 2 contracts should be given to a vendor, but the committee's suggestion was ignored and a provision was made for a maximum of 54 contracts to a vendor.

7 Why were some contractors who left contracts ahead of schedule not retendered? Due to this, there was a huge loss of revenue in Delhi.