Arvind Kejriwal arrest fallout: Will Delhi liquor case have ramifications on Punjab excise policy?

Chandigarh, March 22

With the shadow of the Delhi Excise case also falling on Punjab Excise policy, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema said that he was ready to face any probe. “It is a good policy and our revenue from excise duties has increased by Rs 4,000 crore in just two years. We have managed to finish off the liquor mafia in the state,” he said.

AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said: The party will not bend before the dictatorship of the BJP.

“You arrest one Kejriwal and several others will come forward to take his place and criticise BJP, its policies and its politics,” he said.

Besides the Punjab Chief Minister, three other ministers –Aman Arora, Dr Balbir Singh and Harjot Bains are also in Delhi for the protest against the arrest of Kejriwal.

Earlier today, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar has said a party delegation would approach the Election Commission and seek an ED probe into the state’s excise policy, which he claimed was tailored in lines with the one in Delhi.

“For the (Delhi) excise policy which Kejriwal had to see this day, the same model has been replicated by their government in Punjab,” Jakhar told reporters here.

Jakhar said a high-powered delegation of BJP will go and meet authorities of  the Election Commission on Saturday to demand a ED probe.

The same excise policy under which many Delhi ministers have been jailed has been implemented in Punjab by Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, he said.

This shows that the AAP supremo does not trust his party’s leaders and the party is “power hungry”, Jakhar added.

On Thursday, the AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in an excise policy case by the ED.