A ‘sting video’ is BJP’s new ammo against Manish Sisodia. He calls it a joke

The BJP showed a ‘sting video’ of the father of a liquor vendor named in the first information report (FIR) in the alleged Delhi excise scam

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been at loggerheads with Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the city government’s excise policy, on Monday accused the AAP brass of corruption in the excise policy case, saying it has accessed a “sting video” that shows the father of a liquor vendor named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) talking about cuts allegedly paid to the AAP leadership.

“This is a big expose,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said on Monday as he played the video clip at a Press conference. “The video is of Kulvinder Marwah whose son, Sunny Marwah, is one of the people named in the FIR in the excise policy scam. The video reveals the modus operandi, that 80% of the profit will go to Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia and their friends. First, you give us our 80% commission and then sell the 20% however you can, we don’t care. This has been the policy of Kejriwal,” he said.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia brushed aside the BJP’s new accusation, saying the BJP’s so-called sting video was a joke.

The two parties have been attacking each other for weeks after CBI initiated an inquiry into the Delhi liquor policy case in which deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been named as an accused by the central investigation agency. While the BJP has alleged large-scale corruption in the new Delhi excise policy, the AAP has maintained these allegations are being made as an attempt to topple its government.

HT couldn’t verify the authenticity of the video cited by the BJP, or contact Kulvinder Marwah.

“In the video, Marwah is heard saying that they have paid (Sisodia and Kejriwal) ₹250 crore for opening liquor vends in unauthorised colonies while those in other areas have paid ₹500 crore. He gave an example of Defence colony,” Sambit Patra said.

Northeast Delhi member of Parliament (MP) Manoj Tiwari said: “In the video, Kulvinder says that they had to give the commission to Kejriwal and Sisodia in cash…. They have given tenders to blacklisted companies”.

Patra and Manoj Tiwari demanded the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia and asked other liquor vendors to come forward and speak about the bribes and commission they had to pay to the two AAP leaders.

“There is no need to be scared,” he added, recalling that when Arvind Kejriwal first came to power in Delhi, he asked people to carry out sting operations against corruption. “There has been a sting operation against sting master Kejriwal ji,” he said.

In July, the Delhi government withdrew its Excise Policy, 2021-22 after lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into its alleged irregularities. The AAP has maintained that there was no scam in the policy.

“Instead of providing essential services in Delhi, they came out with a policy to open more liquor vends. Now, the corruption in liquor policy is exposed,” Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said.

On “sting video”, Manish Sisodia later said after CBI could not find anything against him during its raids, the BJP appears to have come forward to find what the CBI could not. “So they get someone on the street to sit in a car and say something… Is this a sting? This is a joke,” he said.