Manas R Bannerjee, June 8 -- Following the Delhi liquor scam, West Bengal is now confronting allegations of a similar excise scandal.
A 2017 policy shift, allegedly pushed by All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) super-boss and then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, is said to have reshaped the sector, enabling the state to gain monopoly over liquor distribution.
The new policy was designed to twist the arms of erstwhile private wholesalers into paying levies to the tune of thousands of crore.
According to a confidential report drawn up by the excise department, which The Statesman has seen, all this carving up of state revenue was carried out in the name of "averting cartelisation, transparency, equitable access o...