NEW DELHI: AAP leader and cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj asked the BJP to issue a white paper on the functioning of its 7 MPs in Delhi in the last 10 years before seeking votes from the Delhiites in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
He said the BJP held a presser with its 7 Lok Sabha candidates and sought to project what its 7 candidates would do in 100 days if voted to power. But they did not reveal what the 7 BJP candidates, who remained in power for 10 years, did for Delhi. He says, “BJP seems to believe the Delhiites are naive. AAP has 7 questions for the BJP about where these 7 MPs were in the last 10 years when the Delhiites needed them the most.”
“In 2017-18, thousands of shops, showrooms, and small businesses were shut down. Where were these MPs? We all remember the incident in Defence Colony when an elderly gentleman and his family were seen pleading with MCD officials not to seal their shop.
Despite this, the BJP-ruled MCD and DDA sealed thousands of shops across Delhi, rendering lakhs of people jobless. Whether it was Defence Colony, Greater Kailash, South Extension, or Rajinder Nagar, shops were sealed. “What did these 7 BJP MPs do to stop that?,” asked Saurabh Bharadwaj.
He said demolition is being carried out in Delhi, particularly in recent times by the DDA, L&DO, railway, and ASI to uproot poor people. In the last 1.5 years, nearly 3 lakh people have been rendered homeless. “Did even a single BJP MP stand up to stop the bulldozers carrying out demolition? No, they did not, but our MLAs reached the demolition sites and fought with the authorities. They did not stop the bulldozers. Nearly 2.5 lakh people were made homeless at Tuglakabad,” he said.
The minister recalled the second wave of Covid-19 when a shortage of oxygen led to scores of deaths in Delhi. “When there was an oxygen shortage, did they get oxygen from the Centre? The MPs were not to be found at that time,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that all AAP MLAs in Delhi, as well as its MPs, were missing when COVID was at its worst.
MPs absent during Covid
The AAP leader recalled the second wave of Covid-19 when a shortage of oxygen led to deaths in Delhi. “When there was an oxygen shortage, did they get oxygen from Centre? The MPs were not to be found at that time,” he said.
