Arvind Kejriwal meets Delhi LG first time since CBI raids Manish Sisodia

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met with Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for the first time after the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) raids on Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

“Our weekly meeting happened in a very good environment. I was not there in Delhi, so we couldn’t meet. We discussed various topics in this meeting,” Kejriwal said. Notably, the last meeting between Delhi CM and LG took place on August 12, but they didn’t meet on August 19, the day the CBI raided Mr Sisodia’s house over an alleged scam in the liquor policy and the next Friday, the AAP leadership was in Gujarat for poll campaigning.

The meeting today had routine administrative matters to be discussed. CBI raided Manish Sisodia’s house on the recommendation of VK Saxena and claimed that Sisodia also extended financial favours to the liquor licenses much after the tenders had been awarded and thus caused huge losses to the exchequer.

The excise policy was passed in chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Delta Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

However, the Delhi government’s version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, and eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience.

Kejriwal further said that he urged him to strengthen the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and work for cleanliness, also asked to work against the mountains of garbage
“I assured him that the Delhi government is always ready to co-operate in everything. We are getting complaints about the lack of sanitization. We had a discussion on two issues- how to fix the mountains of garbage and how to fix the sanitation system,” Delhi CM said.

“There has been a very tense atmosphere between AAP and LG in the last few days. It is unfortunate whatever happened. I hope the situation improves,” he added.