NEW DELHI: Hitting back at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for his comment that the anti-encroachment drive will affect 63 lakh people, BJP functionaries and councillors claimed that AAP was trying to protect Rohingyas and Bangladeshis who had encroached on public land and the party didn’t want to improve the city’s condition.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said Kejriwal claims were baseless. “Rather, AAP MLAs are taking bribes from people and assuring that the corporations won’t demolish their houses. Why do these MLAs have so much sympathy for Rohingyas and Bangladeshis?” he asked.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said as the bulldozing of illegal encroachments by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis was getting momentum, Kejriwal and his MLAs were starting to have problems. “These people and the building mafia are AAP’s vote bank, so their concern seems logical. But Delhiites needn’t worry as the corporations and BJP are with them and won’t spare encroachers and rioters being protected by AAP,” claimed Gupta.
Pointing to the Okhla MLA, who stood in front of a bulldozer during an anti-encroachment drive in Shaheen Bagh, Gupta, without naming anyone, said an AAP MLA took a contract for settling down Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.
The BJP functionaries challenged the CM to call a meeting with officials and mayors to understand the problem. Praveen Shankar Kapoor, Delhi BJP spokesperson, said, “The CM’s meeting with AAP MLAs to ask them to protect the encroachers is disappointing. These words are not expected from a chief minister. Also, his claim that over 80% of Delhi is illegally established is totally wrong.”
“Kejriwal claimed that the corporations would demolish unauthorised colonies, but he is forgetting that the files to regularise these colonies are gathering dust in his government’s offices. The files pertaining to Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makan policy have been shelved for the last four years. Delhiites now know the real face of Kejriwal. Under this policy, 15,000 flats are ready and plans to make another 40,000 have been finalised,” said Gupta.
Bidhuri said, “The Kejriwal government had promised rehabilitation of poor people by giving flats, but not one has been rehabilitated so far. His government couldn’t even prepare the layout of the unauthorised colonies in the past seven years.”
Former North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor and BJP councillor Jai Prakash said confusion was being created to discontinue the demolition drive. “We are not targeting houses in unauthorised colonies and slum clusters. Rather, we are motivating such people to get their properties regularised. But encroachment on public land won’t be tolerated,” he added.
