The Delhi BJP has been protesting about the silence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the alleged corruption during the Sheila Dikshit government’s rule in Delhi. The BJP has also accused the AAP and the Congress of being “hand-in-glove”. The AAP, however, has rubbished all charges against the party.
Kapil Mishra, Minister for Tourism and Water in the Delhi government, had also written a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in August last year, apprising him of the alleged corruption involved in the water tanker distribution and management system under the then Congress government. Mishra had written in the letter: “The report of the fact-finding committee on the water tanker distribution and management system is self-explanatory and exposes how the then Delhi Jal Board chairman and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit bypassed laws and rules to cause a loss of almost Rs 400 crore to the Delhi Jal Board.” In his letter, he had also requested Kejriwal to lodge an FIR against those involved in the case. Several calls and messages to Kapil Mishra for comments on the report remained unanswered till the time of going to press.
Vijendra Gupta, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, has accused the AAP government of trying to “suppress” all reports of the fact-finding committee. Gupta told The Sunday Guardian, “Corruption had been a big election issue during the 2013 and 2015 elections and the AAP had said that they had clinching evidence against Sheila Dikshit and her government in several corruption issues, but it has been over a year that the (AAP) is in power. They have not taken a single action against Dikshit or any of her ministers. Why are they silent? Is there an under-the-table deal between the two?”
The Delhi BJP also raised questions about the alleged inaction of the Kejriwal government over the Shunglu Committee report on the CWG scam during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010. “They (AAP government) are sitting on all these reports submitted by various committees and are just indulging in blame game politics,” Gupta added.
Deepika Sharma, spokesperson of the Delhi BJP, lashed out at Kejriwal for adopting “maun-sahmati” (silent collusion) with corruption and corrupt powers. Sharma told The Sunday Guardian, “During the elections, he (Kejriwal) went to town against Sheila Dikshit, saying he has evidence running into hundreds of pages, but soon after coming to power, he joined hands with the Congress and sat on all his principles. He did not speak even a word against Sonia Gandhi and the AgustaWestland scam, but takes every opportunity to attack the Prime Minister. Such actions expose the close bond the AAP and the Congress shares. They are indeed sleeping partners.”
The AAP, however, said the BJP was in the habit of “misguiding” the people of the country. Senior AAP leader Ashutosh told The Sunday Guardian, “The AAP government had lodged three FIRs against Sheila Dikshit, soon after coming to power in 2013, but after we resigned, when Delhi came under President’s Rule, the FIRs were put in cold storage by the Modi government who had assumed power by then.”
“The ACB (Anti Corruption Bureau) which earlier reported to the Delhi government was taken away from us in 2015, but till the time ACB was with the AAP government, we had registered FIRs. If they (the Central government) decide to give us back the ACB, we would take strict action against all perpetrators of corruption. What is the BJP doing for so long when they have the ACB with them? Are they deliberately not acting on the FIRs we filed? All our decisions are being declared null and void by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The LG and the BJP are not in the mood of acting and are just making wild allegations,” Ashutosh added.
The BJP, on the contrary, blamed the AAP for using the excuse of ACB as their “face-saving” tactic. “Kejriwal and his AAP are always in a confrontation mode with the Central government. He just wants to be in the limelight. Since taking oath in February 2015, he has not made a single statement on corruption cases, leave alone action. Instead, he was seen embracing a man who was convicted in a corruption case. He is a fake messiah against corruption,” Deepika Sharma said.