NEW DELHI: As the Delhi municipality elections draw closer, trouble for the Aam Aadmi Party seems to be increasing. With their backs to the wall, party leaders termed this as a ‘conspiracy’ by the BJP to tarnish the image of the party.
As per documents circulating on social media, two costly lunches were hosted by Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal last year on 12th and 11th February.
The per plate cost as per the bills was Rs 16,025 and Rs 12,472 respectively. As per the bill, a total amount of more than Rs 11,00,000 for 80 plates was arranged by the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC).
“These are all conspiracies by the BJP. Such a file did defiantly come to me but I said a clear no to such an amount. Then it was sent to L-G, where some officers are working for the BJP and are doing such selective leaks to dent the image of the party,” said senior leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Political opponents have termed this as ‘immoral’ use of tax payers' money by the party which came to power two years ago on the promise of being the party with no VVIP culture and an image of the common man.
“This is an absolute immoral use of public money; even eminent personalities do not spend Rs 16,000 per plate. This is a brazen loot and criminal waste of public money,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana.
The leader of opposition in the House Vijendra Gupta said: “This could very much be the costliest lunch ever hosted by any government. In order to boast of its so called achievements of one year AAP government is squandering precious public fund without any sense of responsibility”.
“This party which promised no VVIP culture has cheated the public with its false promises, like they are doing with their no house tax promise. They have given jobs to their family members in every scheme of the government,” said senior Delhi Congress Committee leader Chatar Singh.