AAP, BJP tussle over ‘CAG audit reports’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) engaged in a war of words on Saturday after BJP leaders cited a purported Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to allege losses worth ₹2,026 crore due to Delhi’s 2021-22 excise policy, a document the AAP dismissed as fabricated and “created in the BJP office”.

BJP president JP Nadda led his party’s attack, writing on X: “Intoxicated by power, high on misgovernance. ‘AAP’DA model of loot in full display and that too on something like liquor”. He alleged the CAG report exposed “intentional lapses” in policy implementation, leading to a loss of ₹2,026 crore to the exchequer.

The AAP hit back. “This so-called ‘CAG report’ has not been seen by the CM, LG, or the speaker, nor is it available on the CAG’s official website. Where did they suddenly get this report from?” AAP’s chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said at a press conference. She accused the BJP of being “an agenda-less, issue-less, and leader-less party that has nothing else to do but lie”.

To be sure, the CAG report cited by the BJP has not been tabled in the Delhi assembly and HT could not independently verify its existence or contents. The Delhi assembly secretariat said on January 9 that presenting the reports would be futile as the assembly’s tenure ends in February 2025.

At a press conference in the Capital, BJP MP Anurag Thakur questioned chief minister Atishi for failing to follow Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s request for a special session to table the reports. He said the CAG identified ten significant issues, including “the magnitude of revenue loss, deviations from policy objectives, neglect of expert panel recommendations by the group of ministers, allowing all entities to bid despite complaints, failure to flag financial issues with bidders, violations in the licensing process, absence of penalties for violations, lack of transparency in pricing, and inadequate legislative review for multiple decisions”.

In a detailed rebuttal, AAP’s Kakkar challenged the BJP to discuss official CAG findings about alleged irregularities in central government projects. “The BJP needs to address how Gujarat went into a deficit of ₹4.5 lakh crore, how Maharashtra incurred a deficit of ₹4.5 lakh crore, and how Madhya Pradesh reached a deficit of ₹7.5 lakh crore, how the cost of the Dwarka Expressway that was supposed to be ₹550 crore, escalated to ₹7,500 crore under the BJP’s leadership,” she said. Kakkar added that Arvind Kejriwal had presented Delhi with a model offering “free electricity, free water, free pilgrimage for senior citizens, world-class healthcare, and exceptional education facilities”.

The controversial excise policy, implemented in November 2021, aimed to revitalise Delhi’s liquor business by replacing a sales-volume-based regime with a license fee for traders. It promised modernised stores and introduced discounts on liquor purchases for the first time in Delhi. The AAP has previously accused former Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal of sabotaging the policy with last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.

Thakur accused AAP national convener Kejriwal of masterminding what he termed the “liquor scam”, while BJP leaders pointed to alleged findings in the purported report about violations in the licensing process and policy implementation.

The policy was eventually scrapped after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged irregularities. Both the CBI and Enforcement Directorate have filed multiple charge sheets in the case. Former chief minister Kejriwal, then excise minister Manish Sisodia, and several other politicians, businessmen and middlemen who were arrested in connection with the case are currently out on bail.