NEW DELHI: Demanding that the Centre withdraws its directions to the food and supplies department of the Delhi government, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday said that it is examining the matter of the Centre putting the doorstep delivery scheme on hold and that the BJP should not interfere in the matter.
Soon after the issue came to light the AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj attacked the BJP for siding with ‘ration mafia’ and said it is deliberately stopping the scheme while AAP is trying to eradicate corruption.
“Stopping such a scheme just 4-5 days before its launch is highly unfortunate and saddening. Central Government must immediately withdraw this direction and allow the Delhi government to launch the scheme” said Bhardwaj.
While adding that the Centre should not intervene in the matter of governance in Delhi, Bhardwaj further said that “Delhi government has not taken a single penny for this scheme from the Centre and if such a scheme prevented rampant corruption, the Centre shouldn’t take umbrage”.
On the other hand, the Bhartiya Janata Party claimed that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was trying to “misrepresent and mislead” people of Delhi by wrongly claiming credit for subsidized ration which is provided under the centrally sponsored scheme.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly and BJP MLA Ramesh Bidhuri said that as the BJP-led central government is providing the ration to beneficiaries in Delhi, the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be carried with the scheme.