NEW DELHI: The battle for Purvanchali votes saw both the AAP and the BJP take potshots at each other over the construction of ghats for Chhath Puja.
Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh sat on a dharna briefly to protest against what he termed as the BJP’s “dirty politics” over the construction of a Chhath Puja ghat in south Delhi’s Kalkaji. The Rajya Sabha MP claimed that BJP workers thrashed AAP workers when they tried to counter local councillor Subhash Bhadana’s opposition to a Chhath ghat inside an MCD park in Kalkaji.
Cabinet minister Kailash Gahlot, senior AAP leaders Dilip Pandey, Durgesh Pathak and MLA Sanjeev Jha joined Singh at the protest in Greater Kailash. “The incident has exposed the true face of BJP. I won’t leave from here until BJP is exposed completely,” Singh said.
Hitting back, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said AAP workers were trying to “vitiate the atmosphere” before Chhath Puja. “History is witness to the fact that Chhathi Maiya punishes those who create hindrance in Chhath Puja,” said Tiwari.
Earlier, Gahlot along with Tirth Yatra Committee chairman Kamal Bansal inspected the preparedness for Chhath festivities at Yamuna Ghats. Gahlot directed officials to ensure that devotees should not be inconvenienced at all.
“The number of ghats for Chhath Puja is more than 1100. This is a record for Delhi. We are ensuring that no devotee travels more than two km to perform puja,” he said, adding that all these works were done under the CM’s instruction.