BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla
Credit: X/@PTI_News Screengrab
New Delhi: The BJP on Monday alleged the Delhi Jal Board has become a den of corruption under the government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his support for a one-time settlement for the consumers who have received inflated bills is nothing but a 'one-time super scam' scheme.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that the scam may be worth around Rs 70,000 crore and said that if Kejriwal is serious about waiving the inflated bills of consumers, then he can do it for each of those who have received them.
The proposal has been brought just before the Lok Sabha polls to make more commissions, he told reporters, alleging the AAP government has over the years given contracts to a select group at a price many times over the actual cost in lieu of bribes and commissions.
"The DJB has become a den of all kinds of illegal works and corruption," he said.
The BJP leader said that Kejriwal used to accuse his predecessor Sheila Dikshit of corruption in the DJB but maintained the same water metres during his tenure.
The AAP leader also claimed in 2016 that his government would use software to do away with the earlier practice, but nothing happened, he added.
Taking a swipe at the Chief Minister for his comment that he should be given a Nobel award for undertaking development works despite the 'hurdles' brought by the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, Poonawalla said he should be given a Nobel for his drama and antics.
Kejriwal always plays the victim card, he claimed, asserting that the Delhi chief minister has received no respite from courts despite questioning the Enforcement Directorate's summonses to him in the excise policy scam case.
The Chief Minister has so far refused to appear before the probe agency. Kejriwal has also been strongly defending his former deputy Manish Sisodia, who is in jail for a year in the same case.
Poonawalla noted that courts have given no relief to Sisodia.
Kejriwal on Sunday asked people in Delhi to vote for the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls so that their voices can be heard in Parliament and said inflated water bills will be waived if the alliance's candidates are elected.
Speaking at a protest organised by his AAP against inflated water bills, he had said on a lighter note that he should be given the Nobel prize for running the government despite the alleged hurdles created by the BJP.
"If you choose the INDIA bloc this time, Delhi will have its own defence armour and nobody can trouble the people then... No LG will then be able to harm the people of Delhi since we will have a strong representation in Parliament," he had said.