Delhi excise policy row: BJP protests against Manish Sisodia | Watch

Delhi L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena has recommended a CBI probe against senior AAP leader and deputy CM Sisodia, who is also the excise minister in the AAP-led Delhi government, and has been accused of corruption.

Amid the ongoing war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over excise policy of the AAP-led Delhi government, the state unit of the BJP hit the streets on Saturday, demanding arrest of senior AAP leader and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

BJP protesting against Manish Sisodia. (ANI)

Visuals shared by news agency ANI showed Delhi BJP workers, who were protesting outside Sisodia’s residence, breaking barricades put up by Delhi Police. Later, they were detained by the police, who put them in a bus, and took them away.

According to reports, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta was among those detained by the police.

The saffron party staged demonstration against the AAP leader a day after Vinai Kumar Saxena, the Union territory's lieutenant governor, recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) open an investigation against Sisodia, who is also the excise minister in chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's government.

The 50-year-old politician has been accused of tweaking several procedures to benefit private liquor barons and individuals, an allegation that his party, including Kejriwal himself, has strongly denied.

The excise policy was introduced in November last year. Overhauling the Capital's liquor market, the policy brought the UT government ₹8,919.59 crore, close to 27% higher than the base price set by the government itself for license bids.

Meanwhile, the latest episode marks yet another flashpoint between the AAP and BJP, and comes at a time when the L-G, who is appointed by the central government (in this case, the BJP's), has denied Kejriwal permission to travel to Singapore to attend the ‘World Cities Summit’ scheduled for next month.