The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has decided to withdraw its new excise policy and directed that liquor be sold only through government-run shops from August 1, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday.

The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Cabinet in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. At a press conference, Sisodia claimed that before 2021, there was a lot of corruption in the sale of liquor, and that his government brought in the new excise policy to curb graft.