New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Wednesday alleged that former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party had “deceived” the people of the national capital in the name of cleaning the Yamuna river and that the AAP leaders should be punished for “halting” developmental work.
Meanwhile, Purnia MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav accused the BJP of doing politics by repeatedly arresting the same people.
The reactions came a day after AAP leader and former minister Satyendar Kumar Jain, former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO Udit Prakash Rai, and four others were arrested by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) in connection with an alleged corruption and tender-manipulation case involving the augmentation and upgradation of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the national capital.
Speaking to IANS, BJP leader Virendra Sachdeva said: “The STP scam was a very big one. In the name of cleaning the Yamuna, Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party deceived the people of Delhi.”
“At that time, there was talk of setting up an STP plant. But in the tender floated in 2021, a condition was deliberately added so that a specific company, ‘Euroteck’, could benefit. Accordingly, the tender conditions were manipulated, and it was given to them in exchange for a bribe worth crores of rupees by Satyendar Jain, then CEO Udit Prakash and others. Arvind Kejriwal and AAP all received their shares,” he alleged.
“The way Arvind Kejriwal has cheated the people of Delhi over the past 10 years, this deed is just a continuation of those misdeeds, in which these six people have now been arrested. The money trail which has been found…as the investigation continues, I don’t think even Arvind Kejriwal will be able to escape,” Sachdeva remarked.
Rachnatmak Congress Chairperson Sandeep Dikshit claimed: “We had information about this a long time ago about what was happening in those tenders and in this scam. Also, there was information that the Aam Aadmi Party is committing widespread irregularities.”
According to Dikshit, there were two major mistakes behind the DJB scam.
“One is related to cleaning of the Yamuna river, which should have started after interceptors were installed but was not done…secondly, the sewage lines are getting jammed because for the last 8-10 years, the sewer lines have not been cleaned. The DJB does not have money as water connections have been made free,” he told IANS.
He added: “Making water bills free to an extent for the welfare of the poor is understandable. But if that starts affecting the organisation, then these things are bound to happen.”
The Congress leader stated that AAP leaders should be punished, “not just for irregularities but also for creating hindrance to development in the capital”.
However, Purnia MP Pappu Yadav targeted the BJP, saying “Satyendar Jain has been jailed before as well. Repeatedly following the same process of arresting someone could be termed as politicisation. But the bigger question is that the root of corruption (has not been addressed). The BJP has completely become tainted and is deeply immersed in corruption.”
“I am not going into whether Satyendar Jain is right or wrong, but why is it that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) always targets Opposition leaders?” he told IANS.
(IANS)
