Telangana BJP too caught by surprise as party leaders now link Delhi excise row to KCR family

“These allegations are baseless. The Centre has all the agencies in its hands and they can investigate all they want. These allegations will remain that only – allegations,” Kavitha said, adding that the BJP is rattled because of her father’s popularity. “He is a vocal critic of the BJP government and has been speaking out against it… They are forgetting that we are a family of fighters, we fought for Telangana, and we won’t back down in a fight.”

Telangana Excise and Prohibition Minister V Srinivas Goud said the procurement of liquor as well as allotment of permits and licences to set up liquor shops in the state were done in a transparent manner, through online bidding. “We do not give licences just like that to anyone… I am not aware what the controversy is all about,’’ he said, adding that there had been no charges of kickbacks or bribes since the policy was framed in 2014, when Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking in Delhi Sunday, where the BJP has gone all out against AAP over charges against its senior leader and Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia over a now-scrapped excise policy, BJP MP Parvesh Verma and former BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sarsa said that Kavitha had played a major role in facilitating Delhi’s liquor policy.

They claimed that Kavitha helped Sisodia meet several liquor company owners, including Hyderabad-based Arun Ramachandran Pillai, and that licences were issued in return for bribes, which went to AAP and its leaders.

The CBI case of financial irregularities in the Delhi liquor policy names Sisodia as well as Pillai.

Verma also claimed that Telangana has a “similar” excise policy, and that the same has been implemented in West Bengal too.

As per the Telangana government’s liquor policy for 2021-23, there is a fixed tender application fee of Rs 2 lakh for liquor shops. This fee is credited to the government. Excise fees has to be paid six times a year instead of four earlier. A bank guarantee of 25 per cent of the fees needs to be paid, with the requirement of a deposit waived off. Some liquor brands are given a 20% margin and traders a 10% margin if the turnover is 10-fold.

Of the total shops, 15% are reserved for Gowdas, 10% for SCs, and 5% for STs.

BJP leaders in Telangana incidentally were also taken by surprise at the allegations, and about claims of liquor company owners from southern states being involved in the Delhi liquor policy probe. BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said he had read about the allegations in the media. “I do not know what exactly the BJP leaders in New Delhi said. I will find out,” Kumar, who is on the third phase of his Praja Sangram Yatra, said.

Kavitha said she would file a defamation suit against Verma and Sirsa. “I will also move court seeking an injunction order against those making the allegations,” she said.

Attempts to reach AAP on the BJP’s allegations were unsuccessful.