Yogi govt tops the list of 'bewadi sarkars', Karnataka 2nd in revenue through liquor sale: AAP hits back at Anurag Thakur

New Delhi: The BJP and Aam Aadmi Party engaged in a war of words on Saturday, with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh lashing out at the ruling party over a slew of issues - from Delhi's much debated liquor policy to CBI raids at Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's residence. The remarks came soon after Union Minister Anurag Thakur took a swipe at the Delhi government over the excise policy case.

"Union Minister Anurag Thakur held a press conference and said that the Delhi government was a 'bewdi sarkar (drunk government)'. Listen closely, I will tell you which states gain what amount of revenue from liquor sales. I will tell you who are the bewdi governments: BJP's Uttar Pradesh government gets 21.8% of revenue from alcohol. The Karnataka government of BJP gets 20.6% of revenue from alcohol. BJP's Madhya Pradesh government gets 19.9% of revenue from alcohol and the party's Haryana government gets 13.7% of revenue from alcohol," Singh asserted today.

While the two parties have clashed over several topics in the past few days, the latest salvo began after CBI officials raided Sisodia's residence and office of for 14 hours on Friday in connection with the excise policy case.

The searches at the AAP leader's home, the residence of IAS officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and 19 other places came after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out in November last year.

Following the raid, Sisodia had predicted that he would be arrested in the next couple of days. "I am not involved in any corruption. My only mistake is that I am the education minister of the Arvind Kejriwal government. It may be that the CBI can arrest me in the next 3-4 days. But we won't be scared. They cannot stop us. The elections of 2024 will be AAP vs BJP," he had said.

Chief Minister Kejriwal too backed his top leader, insisting that nothing would come out of this raid. "I welcome CBI. We will cooperate fully. There have been many such probes, and raids in past. Nothing came out. Nothing will come out this time too," he said.

"Manish Sisodia might have now changed the spelling of his name too. Now it is M-O-N-E-Y SHH," countered Union Minister Anurag Thakur during a press conference on Saturday afternoon.