The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday alleged that “authorised goons” of the Bharatiya Janata Party had been targeting its members ever since its support for the farmers’ protest, PTI reported.
AAP MLA Raghav Chadha said during a press briefing that there had been attempts to silence and threaten his colleagues. “Our Kalkaji MLA Atishi’s life too is under threat,” he said. “Some goons stood outside her home. Two cars were parked outside her home last night.”
Chadha claimed that the cars had stickers which are assigned for vehicles to enter the Parliament. “This means the authorised goons of BJP have been targeting and attacking members of AAP,” he said. “They are playing psychological games with us, picking and choosing different members of the AAP to attack at will.”
The AAP leader said that his party will meet Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and request him to remind the police of its responsibilities.
Tens of thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting at key entry points to Delhi for over a month against the agricultural laws now, withstanding temperatures dropping to two to three degrees Celsius. They fear the reforms will weaken the minimum support price mechanism under which the government buys agricultural produce and leave them at the mercy of corporations. Many have died due to the biting cold.
Also read: AAP alleges BJP workers vandalised Delhi Jal Board office as party has supported protesting farmers
The BJP dismissed the AAP’s accusations. “The main purpose of AAP leaders behind this rhetorical statement campaign is to divert attention from the Delhi government’s failure to release municipal funds and to ensure proper water supply to the people,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said. “No BJP worker has ever attacked any AAP leader and BJP shall never ever resort to political violence.”
Chadha, who is the vice-chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board, also filed a complaint against Delhi BJP President Adesh Gupta and other leaders of the saffron party for allegedly forcibly entering the department’s office last week, ANI reported.
Earlier this month, mayors and local body representatives of the BJP had staged a sit-in protest and indefinite hunger strike outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, demanding Rs 13,000 crore for civic bodies, which they claimed, the state government owed them. The protest ended on December 19.
The BJP stopped protesting outside the Delhi chief minister’s residence a day after the Delhi High Court said that the protestors should be evicted when the state disaster management authority has prohibited political and other gatherings in the city till December 31 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On December 13, the AAP alleged that BJP leaders vandalised Kejriwal’s home and broke CCTV cameras. The BJP, on the other hand, claimed that the AAP installed new cameras to keep an eye on the women councilors protesting outside Kejriwal’s house.
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