Amid the ongoing war of words between Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and the Delhi government over the issue of education, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, on Saturday, accused the lieutenant governor of making “false allegations” against the National Capital’s Education Department.

In a letter to the lieutenant governor, Manish Sisodia said the figures he (the LG) gave in the letter he wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday criticising the functioning of the Education Department of Delhi ”false”.

“Delhi’s 60,000 teachers, 18 lakh children and their 36 lakh parents, who have improved the Delhi’s education system with their hard work are hurt and insulted,” Sisodia said in his letter to Saxena.

On Friday, Saxena wrote to Kejriwal raising several issues related to the city’s education sector. In response to the letter, the deputy chief minister said the LG should not have defamed the entire education system of the National Capital with his “false claims”.

Sisodia, in his letter, asked the LG not to ridicule the teachers, instead focus on law and order of Delhi.

Sharing the letter on Twitter, the deputy CM wrote, “Yesterday, the LG had made many false allegations against the Education Department; while replying to his letter, I have requested him to not ridicule the work of teachers; our teachers have done wonders. I have also requested the LG that it is his responsibility to fix the law and order so he should fix the law and order and let us fix the education system.”

He wrote in the letter, “Harassing us may be your political commitment. But it does not suit you to put a halt to the education of children, to insult the work of the teachers of Delhi.”

The deputy chief minister further wrote, “You have made a very wrong claim that the number of students in government schools of Delhi has decreased from sixteen lakhs to fifteen lakhs. While the reality is that in the year 2015-16 (in the first year of formation of our government), the number of students in government schools of Delhi was 14 lakh 66 thousand, which has now increased to 18 lakh.”

Commenting on the entire episode, Kejriwal tweeted, “Delhi’s teachers, students and their parents have together worked hard in the last seven years to reform the education system, instead of insulting them, the LG Sahib should encourage them.”