Manish Sisodia concerned over anti-encroachment drive as Rohingyas, Bangladeshis sheltered by AAP: BJP

New Delhi: Hitting back at Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, BJP president Adesh Gupta on Friday said the AAP leader was concerned over the demolition drive as bulldozers were being used to remove encroachments by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis "given shelter" by his party.

Sisodia has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to stop the "destruction" ensuing in the national capital due to the anti-encroachment drive by the BJP-ruled municipal bodies.

The deputy chief minister also slammed the "bulldozer politics" of the BJP and claimed that the civic bodies are planning to raze 63 lakh dwellings in the national capital.

Hitting out at Sisodia over this, Delhi BJP president Gupta said, "I can understand your pain and panic because encroachments by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis are being removed who indulge in rioting and crimes, and are then given shelter by AAP leaders and MLAs." Addressing an online briefing earlier, Sisodia said,"I have written to him (Shah) saying that this (demolition drive) should be stopped. If bulldozers are to be used, they should be used to demolish the houses of those BJP leaders and civic body representatives who took bribes to allow such structures to be constructed." Claiming that Sisodia was not at all worried about poor people, Gupta asked him to stop indulging in politics over the encroachment drive against Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.

"If you were concerned about the poor, you would have given slum dwellers pucca houses and provided them tap water, rations and helped them during the COVID-19 pandemic," the BJP leader said.

An anti-encroachment drive in Delhi's Madanpur Khadar on Thursday sparked protests and pelting of stones where local people claimed that legal structures were bulldozed.

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was part of a protest in the southeast Delhi locality, was arrested on charges of rioting and obstructing public servants in discharge of their duty, police officials said.

Published on: Friday, May 13, 2022, 08:08 PM IST