Court relief for Kejriwal, Sisodia: How BJP seized upon excise row to turn tables on AAP

NEW DELHI: Viewing the excise controversy as the first chink in then AAP govt's armour, BJP's city started claiming that a party born out of the Anna Hazare movement had strayed from its anti-corruption plank.

Long before the saffron party started attacking AAP over "Sheesh Mahal" — a reference to a controversial renovation of the then chief minister's official residence — the former had pitched the excise issue as a symbol of "corruption" in a party born out of an anti-graft movement.




Street protests, sharp campaign slogans and repeated references to "ek ke sath ek free" — a swipe at heavy discounts offered at liquor stores following the implementation of the 2021-22 excise policy — became a recurring theme in BJP protests and rallies.

The messaging helped the party build a narrative that questioned AAP's moral high ground and turn the controversy into a wider debate on AAP's integrity, which used to call itself a "kattar imandar (staunchly honest)" party.

A senior BJP functionary said on Friday that the then Delhi BJP president, Adesh Gupta, who was searching for a potent issue, saw in the liquor controversy something that could politically stick to AAP. Party members spread across slums and among lower-income groups, and BJP's campaign started gaining traction.

Gupta started leading protests by slum dwellers, auto drivers and senior citizens near the residences of Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers, demanding the dismissal of his deputy Manish Sisodia over the alleged scam.

BJP claimed the policy had benefitted the liquor mafia at the cost of public money. As investigations progressed, the arrests of Kejriwal and Sisodia over allegations of laundering linked to the policy further strengthened BJP's position.

A senior Congress functionary, who claimed to have closely observed the manoeuvres of both parties over the issue, noted that multiple bail applications of Kejriwal and Sisodia were disallowed by different levels of courts ever since they had been arrested, and how BJP smartly used this as a tool to convey that the two were not just accused but guilty.

AAP had no answers every time BJP functionaries said that the courts were denying the two AAP veterans relief and so it was not correct to call this a case of political vendetta, the Congress member said.

While the liquor controversy was the first major allegation that stuck to AAP, ultimately it was the "Sheesh Mahal" issue that hit the party hardest, he said. "Also, the poor condition of roads and continuous quarrels between the bureaucracy and the political wing of the then govt, leading to stalling of development, also led to the downfall of AAP in Delhi," he claimed.