BJP leaders, workers and supporters from across Delhi staged protests at 14 major locations across the national capital against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government holding it responsible for the persistent water crisis in Delhi.
Led by the saffron party’s city unit president Virendra Sachdeva, Delhi BJP leaders took to street demanding the resignation of Water Minister Atishi alleging that she and the tanker mafia left Delhi high and dry.
Several parts of the city are reeling under acute water shortage.
BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Yogendra Chandolia, and Bansuri Swaraj and other leaders spoke during the protests at various locations across the city as part of their ‘Matka Phod’ (breaking the pitcher) agitation.
Addressing the protesters at Laxmi Nagar, Virendra Sachdeva attributed the water shortage to the mismanagement and negligence of the Kejriwal government, and not because of any natural causes.
He alleged that the water theft and mismanagement began when Arvind Kejriwal was the chairman of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). Since then the water agency has maintained any accounts.
Launching a scathing attack on Kejriwal, the BJP leader claimed it is the the Delhi CM who is responsible for the loss of Rs 73,000 crore to the Jal Board which was making a profit of Rs 600 crore.
The Delhi BJP chief also accused AAP MLAs Prakash Jarwal, Bhavna Gaur, Dinesh Mohangia, and others of allegedly turning water supply into a racket aligning with tanker mafias.
Rejecting the Kejriwal Government’s allegations that Haryana government is withholding Delhi’s water share, Sachdeva said if the theft and leakage were curbed, every resident of Delhi would have enough water.
Citing news reports, he claimed said private water connections are being allegedly given in an AAP MLA’s area against unaccounted money. The water crisis is nothing, but the result of AAP’s incompetence.
In Najafgarh, BJP MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, addressing a protest near a water tank, said the negligence of the government is evident from the water crisis.
BJP MP from Chandni Chowk Bansuri Swaraj, addressing a protest in front of the Delhi Jal Board office at RK Puram, called the water shortage an artificial crisis created by the AAP government. “The AAP government has done nothing for the Jal Board’s infrastructure in a decade, leading to 54 per cent wastage or theft,” she said.
Delhi BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor, led a protest at Chandni Chowk and Sadar Thana road accusing the Delhi government of the biggest scam linked to the DJB.