"Wants to divert public money...": BJP's Delhi chief hits back at Kejriwal over water bill scheme claim

New Delhi: After Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor of warning officials against implementing the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) scheme for a one-time settlement of dues and threatening them with suspension, the BJP's Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva hit back at the AAP convenor saying he was only 'fooling' the people in the name of settling their water bills.

Speaking to ANI on Sunday, the BJP leader said, "There is no such water bill settlement scheme. Yeh sirf Delhi ki janta ko topi pehna rehe hai. (They are only pulling the wool over the eyes of Delhi's residents)."

"Arvind Kejriwal is a master of lies and falsehood. In 2016, he promised to bring a new-age software, saying it would enable consumers to pay their water bills online. We are all still looking for that software. Again, in 2023, he said scores of water bills generated were misplaced during the Covid lockdowns," the BJP leader told ANI on Sunday.

Launching a fierce counter-attack on the AAP national chief, Sachdeva said, "Water bills should not be settled but reduced to zero. Through this one-time settlement scheme, Kejriwal wants to divert public money to fund the AAP's election expenses."

Speaking at a gathering in the national capital earlier in the day, CM Kejriwal claimed a water bill scandal during the Covid pandemic where readings on meters were allegedly fabricated over many months.

He claimed further to have learnt that officials had been warned against bringing the Bill on the DJB settlement scheme to the Cabinet for clearance and were even threatened with suspension.

Claiming interference in governance by the BJP-led Centre through the L-G, Kejriwal alleged, "Only I know how I am running the government. If there was a Nobel Prize for this, I would have got it by now. Manish Sisodia (former Delhi deputy CM who is behind bars in connection with the excise police case) should be conferred with the Bharat Ratna. Satyender Jain (AAP leader also arrested for long in a money laundering case) should have received the Padma Shri. He is only out on medical bail."

Further lashing out at Kejriwal over alleged irregularities in the excise policy case, Sachdeva said, "Delhi Jal Board is saddled by loans worth Rs 80,000 crore. This government even gave money to the tanker mafia. Kejriwal should be awarded for giving us scams in the name of education, DTC and women's safety. He is the king of corruption."

On the AAP-Congress alliance for Delhi and other states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP leader said, "Will he (Kejriwal) now put an arm around the shoulder of (Congress leader and an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots) Jagdish Tytler? He once used to call the Congress corrupt and even made indecorous comments against the late former CM (and Congress leader) Sheila Dixit-ji."