Big blow to AAP

IT’s getting worse for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was recently voted out of power in Delhi after a decade-long rule. Adding insult to injury, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed that the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22, formulated by the AAP government, resulted in a revenue loss of over Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer. What’s more, the CAG findings on the ‘performance audit report on regulation and supply of liquor in Delhi’ from 2017-18 to 2020-21 — when the previous policy was in operation — have flagged several financial irregularities. The report has provided more ammunition not only to the ruling BJP but also to the ED and the CBI that are probing corruption and money laundering charges against former CM Arvind Kejriwal and other top AAP leaders.

The 2021-22 policy was framed ostensibly to simplify the liquor trade, bring transparency, check monopoly and generate optimum revenue. However, according to the CAG report, the changes effected were fraught with shortcomings and the objectives stated for switching over to the new excise regime were not achieved. The party has justified its decision to do away with the ‘flawed’ old policy, but it has failed to explain how and why the new one ran into trouble. It is a given that even the most well-intentioned policy can prove to be a disaster if its implementation is botched up.

The excise scam and the extravagant renovation of the CM’s residence — mockingly dubbed Sheesh Mahal by the BJP — belied AAP’s grand promise of providing clean, hassle-free governance. Ironically, a party that owed its meteoric rise to its tough stand against corruption now finds itself unable to shake off the graft taint. AAP lost the battle of perception long before it was defeated in the 2025 Assembly elections. And the body blow dealt by the CAG findings will make it even harder for the party to regain public trust.