New Delhi: BJP on Monday claimed that the huge loss caused to the state exchequer due to the “excise scam” had “decoded the true face of the Kejriwal Model”. Union minister Anurag Thakur said the only distance chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had covered in these years was from a promise of “swaraj” to “sharab raj” in the capital. At a press conference on Monday, BJP mocked the claims made by Manish Sisodia that he was offered to join the saffron party in lieu of a “relief” from the ongoing investigations, saying they would never think of his inclusion in its fold. “The Kejriwal model has been decoded… All the power to make money, organise publicity with of crores of taxpayers’ money, but zero accountability… and when you get caught, it is always somebody else’s liability,” Thakur told reporters. The party fired a fresh salvo at Kejriwal and Sisodia, alleging that there were several discrepancies between what was recommended by the panel on excise policy and what was implemented by the AAP government. BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri and party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia questioned Kejriwal’s “silence” on the corruption charges. “Earlier, we had given 24 hours to him to respond to the charges. If he’s hardcore honest, why is he not answering the questions being raised? Only one tweet has come up, which is meaningless. We again give 24 hours to Kejriwal to answer questions on charges of corruption in the excise policy,” they said. Bhatia claimed that a lottery system was to be adopted for awarding of retail vending contracts, but this was not done and the zones were awarded to “some” industrialists. Bidhuri said Sisodia’s claim that he was offered to join BJP was another bid to divert attention from the key issue of corruption. BKP workers, meanwhile, staged a protest outside Kejriwal’s residence, demanding the removal of Sisodia from the cabinet. The party said it was going to hold “Jan Chaupals” at all the 70 assembly constituencies of Delhi to take the issue of “corruption and financial irregularities” to the people. Addressing the protestors, Gupta asked why the excise policy was withdrawn if it was helpful in increasing the revenues of Delhi. He alleged that Sisodia was the “culprit of this entire scam” and giving him a place in the cabinet meant promoting corruption. Bidhuri alleged that 300 liquor vends were opened illegally and that the Delhi government took money from the liquor mafia. Former Union minister and MP Harsh Vardhan said Kejriwal had no explanation for the “corruption” under the new excise policy. At a joint press conference, Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra and vice-president Jaiveer Rana said the party would “Jan Chaupals” in all assembly constituencies from Wednesday.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/true-face-of-kejriwal-model-decoded-bjp/articleshow/93721302.cms
