New Delhi: Delhi BJP leaders Virendra Sachdeva, Manoj Tiwari, and Praveen Khandelwal held a joint press conference to express their support for Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s decision to present the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in the Delhi Assembly. The leaders claimed that the report sheds light on widespread corruption and mismanagement under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, specifically focusing on the controversial liquor policy.
Sachdeva, the Delhi BJP president, emphasised that the report, long withheld by the Kejriwal administration, has now exposed the alleged financial mishandling that has cost Delhi taxpayers dearly. He pointed to the ₹2,002.68 crore revenue loss caused by the liquor scam and an additional ₹941.53 crore loss linked to the failure to open liquor stores in non-conforming wards. He also criticised the government for failing to re-tender surrendered licenses, resulting in another ₹890 crore loss. The report also revealed a ₹144 crore waiver granted to zonal licensees under the guise of COVID-19 relief.
According to Sachdeva, the liquor policy facilitated corruption by allowing wholesalers with ties to retail and manufacturing firms to control the supply chain, thus inflating profits while draining public funds. He also accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of acting as a “middleman” for the liquor lobby, undermining government control and handing over the market to private companies.
Manoj Tiwari expressed shock over the scale of the scam, noting that the ₹2,000 crore-plus scandal is ten times the size of the ₹214 crore scam that led to the conviction of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Yadav. Tiwari criticised Kejriwal for circumventing regulations and for avoiding the presentation of the CAG report in the Assembly for years.
Praveen Khandelwal echoed similar concerns, highlighting the dramatic increase in profit margins for wholesale vendors and the failure to establish quality control measures for liquor distribution. He also
pointed out that the government’s laxity allowed monopolies to form, with one applicant running 54 shops—well above the legal limit of two.