Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday hit out at his former protégé and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over his government’s now-shelved liquor policy that attracted probes for graft.

Hazare’s open letter to Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal comes at a time the chief minister has called for a trust vote claiming that the BJP is misusing central institutions to unseat him.

The 85-year old Maharashtra-based activist, who has supported vigilante-enforced prohibition in villages in his state, quoted Kejriwal’s book Swaraj that calls for referendums by women over opening of liquor shops in their vicinity.

Hazare wrote: “You brought the new liquor policy which will increase the consumption of liquor and vends opening in every lane. This was not in the interest of the public and would lead to corruption. The way liquor intoxicates someone, there is intoxication of power too. You seem to be drowned in the latter.”

Arvind Kejriwal. File picture

Hazare also said it seemed the liquor policy would encourage sale and consumption and spur corruption.

Last month, Delhi lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy 2021-22.

Earlier this month, the CBI raided several premises linked to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to probe alleged corruption by him and other officials in the allocation of liquor licences.

On Tuesday, Sisodia’s bank locker in Ghaziabad was searched in the presence of him and his wife.

A trust vote Kejriwal called for in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday was rescheduled to Thursday after AAP MLAs disrupted proceedings for a second day demanding that lieutenant governor Saxena be sacked for alleged corruption in the Khadi and Village Industries Commission during demonetisation when he was its chairman.

Reacting to Hazare’s letter, Kejriwal told reporters: “Ahead of the Punjab polls, they were calling me a terrorist. When no one listened to them (BJP), they brought (estranged former party leader) Kumar Vishwas. Now when no one is believing their allegations on the liquor policy, they are firing from Anna’s shoulders.”

On Tuesday, South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri attempted to enter the Delhi Assembly to protest against the AAP government but was stopped by security personnel.

He later led a protest outside Kejriwal’s residence over multiple allegations of corruption against his government and conducted a “purification ritual” at Rajghat where AAP MLAs had gathered last week.