Delhi BJP workers on Thursday staged a protest in front of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s residence here, a day after its leaders lodged a police complaint alleging that there was a “conspiracy to kill” mayors and leaders of the party-led municipal corporations. They also demanded that the Kejriwal government clear dues of the three municipal corporations — the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
The BJP’s city unit on Wednesday, citing a video, had lodged a complaint with the police against Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Durgesh Pathak alleging a “conspiracy to kill” leaders of the municipal corporations. Pathak has rubbished the allegations, saying the BJP has a habit of mixing random audios with random videos to “defame and malign” people.
“We protested against the conspiracy to kill our mayors, and issued a warning that BJP workers know how to give answer to such challenges,” Delhi BJP vice president Ashok Goel Devraha said. The protesters, including members of the BJP’s youth and SC wings, tried to get past a police barricade near Sisodia’s residence on Mathura Road, after which a few of them were detained.
Devraha, who led the protest, claimed that four to five BJP workers were detained by the police and taken to the Mandir Marg Police station. He asserted that mayors and other leaders of the municipal corporations were fighting for justice for the people of Delhi and employees of the civic bodies.
“Mayors and other corporation leaders are sitting outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on an indefinite dharna for the past four days in the cold because the Delhi government is not paying Rs 13,000 crore dues. This is posing problems in payment of salaries to sanitation workers, doctors and nurses, who served people as ‘Corona Warriors’,” Devraha said. The BJP complaint cited a video clip circulating on social media purportedly showing Sisodia and Pathak outside Kejriwal’s residence where the mayors and municipal corporation leaders are staging the dharna.
“A Delhi BJP delegation filed a complaint at the DCP office against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP leader Durgesh Pathak for the conspiracy to kill the mayors,” the Delhi BJP had said in a statement on Wednesday. Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra, who was part of the delegation, has alleged, “Entire Delhi has seen the video in which AAP leader Durgesh Pathak is publicly saying that he will kill the corporation leaders and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia standing next to him is calming him saying that there is media around.”
