The BJP and the Congress staged protests in the national Capital over the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the excise policy of the Arvind Kejriwal Government.
Delhi BJP leaders and workers assembled at ITO and tried to march towards the AAP office at DDU Marg but were stopped by the police. Those who jumped over the barricades were detained while the Delhi Congress leaders and their workers staged a protest outside Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's residence, demanding his resignation.
Addressing the protest, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said that they were demanding the sacking of Sisodia as well as another Minister of the Kejriwal Government Satyendar Jain, who is currently in jail in an alleged money laundering case. "For the first time in history, a Minister has been jailed but not removed from the Government which shows the shamelessness of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” Gupta said. Leader of Opposition, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that corruption has become Kejriwal's identity. He has pushed youth and women into alcoholism for his own benefit and has reduced the minimum age for drinking alcohol. "Under pressure from liquor mafia Kejriwal has given the task of liquor quality check to them only, resulting in duplicate liquor being sold in the city freely,” he said.
Delhi Congress leaders and workers gathered in Patparganj, holding banners and raising slogans against Sisodia and Kejriwal. Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar alleged that Sisodia, the Minister in-charge of Delhi Government's excise department, is directly responsible for "corrupt deals" with liquor contractors.
Hundreds of protesters carried banners and placards with slogans such as "Nai Excise Policy ke jimmedar, Manish Sisodia istifa do, isitifa do", "Kejriwal sarkar sharab ghottale ka bhrastachar band karo” etc. The Delhi Congress had earlier submitted a written complaint to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, seeking a probe into the liquor policy.