Former Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi Anil Baijal Tuesday said the allegations levelled against him by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in connection with the new liquor policy, were “baseless” and “motivated”, and called him a “desperate man saving his own skin by perpetrating allegations against others”.
Stating that facts are now in the public domain, Baijal said, “In the matter of not allowing liquor vends in non-conforming areas, (I) discharged my constitutional responsibility of upholding the laws of the land. No law in Delhi, even today, allows for opening of liquor vends in non-conforming areas.”
Baijal added: “Raising doubts and levelling allegations against the L-G’s decisions has been a norm ever since the AAP has formed the government in Delhi. The allegations now made by Manish Sisodia are baseless and are motivated against me. They are nothing but blatant lies and falsehoods being perpetrated by a desperate man to save his own skin.” He added that the Deputy CM is trying to find some alibi for “his and his colleagues’ acts of commission and omissions”.
Baijal said the AAP government and its excise minister appeared to have “initially claimed record revenue through excise by manipulating figures; but when that got utterly exposed, they are now playing this deplorable game of blaming me by distorting facts and painting a false narrative”.
The ex-LG added that he flagged “unlawful” decisions taken by the AAP government on several occasions during the implementation of the new excise policy.
