MCD polls: Uttarakhand CM Dhami attacks AAP on corruption; says “Delhi will vote for BJP”

NEW DELHI, (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said that Delhi will vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming municipal polls in the national capital.

In a conversation with ANI, CM Dhami exuded confidence in the victory of the BJP in the upcoming elections of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in the national capital and said that the party will win with a majority of votes as people have seen the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

“People have seen the work of Narendra Modi and the BJP. Delhi is also observing how the party which promised to uproot corruption has been establishing it. The videos of their ministers are out regularly,” CM Dhami said. Dhami attacked the AAP by mentioning the latest released videos of its Health Minister Satyendar Jain where his purported CCTV footage inside the Tihar jail showed housekeeping services being provided to him in his jail cell.

The purported footage that emerged according to the sources on Sunday morning was dated September 13, 15 and October 1 in which the visuals show men sweeping the floor of the jail cell and also arranging the minister’s bed. In the visuals dated September 12, Jain was seen interacting with other people inside his jail cell. This is ostensibly the fourth CCTV footage that has emerged relating to the jailed Delhi minister.

The first purported visuals, which appeared on November 19, showed Jain getting a full body massage. The second purported footage surfaced on November 23, a day after Jain’s counsel claimed inside the trial court that the minister had lost 28 kgs of weight during his custody.

In the footage, Jain was seen having an elaborate and extensive meal. Interestingly, sources had said that the minister had gained 8 kgs of weight instead. In the third purported footage that came out on November 26, the minister was seen having a conversation with some people, including currently suspended Jail superintendent Ajit Kumar.

On Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla slammed AAP over the November 26 video of Jain and termed it as “AAP ka darbar of Bhrashtachar”. Dhami, further in his conversation, mentioned the recently disclosed Rs 1,300 crore scam in Delhi schools.

The Delhi government’s vigilance directorate (DoV) on Friday recommended a “detailed investigation by a specialized agency” into the “grave irregularities and corruption” by the Arvind Kejriwal government in the construction of 2,405 classrooms in 193 government schools in the national capital. It also recommended “fixing the responsibilities of the concerned officials of the Education Department and PWD” who were involved in the alleged bungling to the tune of nearly Rs 1,300 crore. “People in Delhi are witnessing the disclosure of scams in the Education department and the Excise department, hence BJP will come to power in MCDs once again,” Dhami said.

In the alleged scam in the new liquor policy of the Delhi government, the ED and the CBI alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval.

The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection. The Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fee was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022 due to COVID-19.

This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.

The election to 250 wards in the MCD is slated to be held in the national capital on December 4, and the counting will take place on December 7. Uttarakhand CM Dhami has been in the national capital to campaign for ensuring BJP’s victory here.

Earlier in the day, Dhami held a door-to-door campaign in Delhi’s Moti Nagar area for the upcoming MCD elections. The civic polls are shaping up to be a two-way contest between the BJP, which currently holds the civic reins in the national capital, and the AAP, which is in power in the state. (ANI)