NEW DELHI: After the Delhi unit of the BJP filed a police complaint about a probe into an alleged scam by the Aam Aadmi Party government in building classrooms, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday sent a legal notice to Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari and his associates.
Sisodia demanded that they tender a written apology, failing which he would go ahead with legal proceedings, including prosecution for criminal defamation.
Tiwari, along with MP Parvesh Singh and leader of the opposition Vijender Gupta, who has also been served the notice, had alleged that under Sisodia, the education minister of Delhi, each classroom was built at a cost of Rs 25 lakh.
Sisodia had lashed out at Tiwari, saying that the BJP leader should get him arrested if he was guilty or apologise for “lying” to the poor people whose children were getting quality education in schools run by the Delhi government.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said, “The BJP has all the agencies, CBI looked through all our files but could not find any corruption. The BJP cannot stand to see that children of auto drivers and labourers are becoming lawyers and doctors.”
Kejriwal had dared Tiwari to get him and his deputy arrested if any irregularity had occurred.
The Delhi BJP chief, citing an RTI reply, had claimed that the Delhi government had undertaken the construction of 12,782 classrooms at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore. The work could have been done for around Rs 800 crore, he had claimed.
“We refuse to bow down to your pressure tactics, Manish Sisodia. We will prove your corruption,” Tiwari said in reaction to Sisodia’s legal action.