Hours after two sisters were shot dead in South West Delhi’s RK Puram area early on Sunday over Rs 10,000 owed to their brother by the assailants, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flayed the BJP and the Centre over the “poor” law and order situation in the national Capital and said Delhi would have been safer if law and order was “under the AAP Government instead of LG.”
His comments, however, drew a sharp reaction from Delhi BJP leaders including Union Minister Meenakashi Lekhi, who claimed that Kejriwal does not understand the law.
Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri accused him of trying to settle political scores with Lt Governor VK Saxena as he has exposed the AAPians . There was no immediate reaction from the LG office to the allegations.
Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said, “Our thoughts are with the families of both women. May their souls rest in peace.”
He added, “The people of Delhi have started feeling very unsafe. Instead of fixing the law and order of Delhi, they (Centre) are conspiring to capture governance in the whole of Delhi. If today, the law and order situation was under the AAP government instead of LG, Delhi would have been the safest.” Condemning the alleged murder of two sisters in the Ambedkar Basti near RK Puram in South Delhi, AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister said, “Our thoughts are with the families of both women. May their souls rest in peace.”
Later, addressing a press conference, AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar cited a recent report which said that a murder takes place in Delhi every two days. “We question the source of these weapons and demand to know why the Delhi LG, Vinai Kumar Saxena, has turned a blind eye to this escalating violence. Our repeated attempts to engage with the LG have been met with silence and inaction.
The AAP had attacked Lt Governor VK Saxena over the alleged “deteriorating” law and order in the city earlier as well.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s comments, Lekhi said, “I want to remind the people of Delhi that this is the same Arvind Kejriwal whose MLAs were involved in (the) Delhi riots. They were involved in killing IB (Intelligence Bureau) officer Ankit. Gulel (catapults), guns (and) petrol bombs were supplied by these people. Can such people be given the responsibility of law and order?” The Union Minister of State for Culture stressed that the RK Puram incident was the fallout of personal enmity and the government did not have any role in it.
She said, “Wherever such an incident has happened, the role of the government is to register an FIR and take strict action against the accused and produce them in the court of law.
“The system of trial courts is under the Delhi government. So, whenever this case comes up in the court, in this case the Saket sourt, you should ensure that the guilty are punished.”
When asked about Kejriwal’s allegations, Lekhi said, “The person who does not understand the law is sitting as the chief minister. I am surprised at this.”
Bidhuri said that this is a time pay condolences to the victim family and Kejriwal and his party has indulged in politics on dead people. “This is not the first time, he had targeted Raj Niwas or Vinai Kumar Saxena. He and his party target Lieutenant Governor on daily basis without knowing the facts. How many times did he meet with the Delhi police commissioner or with the Lieutenant Governor on the issue of law and order situation of the state? How many times has he held meetings with the MPs on this issue? Only playing politics is his task said Bidhuri. “Is Punjab, where AAP is in power, is a crime free state or Ram Rajya established in the state,”he questioned.
BJP leader and MP Manoj Tiwari when asked about Kejriwal’s comment said, “I don’t want to speak much on this, people who are doing politics on such incidents fail to fulfil their prime responsibilities. Continuous fire incidents are being reported in Delhi, which needs to be stopped.”
Advising the Delhi Chief Minister over rising rage crime in Delhi, Tiwari said, “Arvind Kejriwal should work over such rising anger-related issues in Delhi.”
