AAP leaders in Goa scared after arrests in Delhi excise case: Sawant

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday claimed that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in the State were “scared” following the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and others in the Delhi excise policy case. He was addressing party workers at Velim in the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency.

“Their Chief Minister in Delhi [Kejriwal] is in jail. Do you know why he was jailed? Because he was involved in the excise scam,” Mr. Sawant said, alleging that AAP had made money from the alleged liquor policy scam and “was not sure what to do with it”.

“They [AAP] got some money in Goa [in the 2022 Asembly elections] and that is why they won matka [two seats],” he said.

“AAP leaders in Goa are afraid after the arrests in the Delhi excise scam, and they are tracking my activities,” Mr. Sawant claimed.

Mr. Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to the nowscrapped excise policy, where he was accused of being directly involved in a conspiracy related to the formulation and modification of the policy to favour certain individuals.

The ED had, last week, questioned AAP’s Goa unit president Amit Palekar and three others in a case linked to the excise policy.

‘Weak Opposition’

Mr. Sawant lashed out at the Opposition parties in the State, saying that the Congress had “disappeared from Goa”, AAP leaders were “afraid”, and that the people would “not bother” about the Revolutionary Goans Party.

“The only party which is left now is BJP,” he said.