Navjot Singh Sidhu questions AAP govt over excise scam

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Patiala, November 2

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a key member of the Opposition INDIA bloc, over the now-scrapped excise policy in Delhi for which CM Arvind Kejriwal had been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate. Demanding a similar high-level probe into the financial benefits given to ‘certain AAP leaders’, Sidhu said the excise policy in Punjab was ‘bleeding state finances’.

Claiming that the excise scam in Punjab is another tip of the iceberg and is linked to the Delhi excise scam, Sidhu stated that a similar probe underway in Punjab would “bring more revelations soon”. “There are certain leaders in Delhi who directly got the Punjab excise policy passed in connivance with liquor contractors of Punjab and Delhi, many of whom had been already blacklisted for various violations,” he claimed.

Sidhu said the excise policy brought by the AAP-led Delhi government had to be withdrawn within three months of its implementation which ‘makes it clear that something is fishy’. “If it was withdrawn in public interest, then why the same excise policy was implemented in Punjab and was still continuing,” Sidhu stated.

The utterances come ahead of the crucial elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where INDIA bloc allies, including the Congress and the AAP, could be seen contesting against each other.