he AAP and BJP sparred over the termination of contractual employees of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Tuesday with former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing the BJP of snatching their livelihoods before Diwali, assuring them that they will be reinstated while the state BJP blamed it on the ‘anarchy’ of the ruling party.

In an order, the DCW earlier on Monday discontinued the services of its entire contractual staff with immediate effect. AAP supremo Kejriwal assured the affected workers that his party would fight to get their jobs reinstated. "I assure my sisters who have been fired from DCW that I will get them their jobs back, no matter what it takes," the former Delhi chief minister said in a post on X. Senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia criticised the BJP for dismissing the contractual staff at the DCW, calling it a direct contradiction of the saffron party's promises of job creation in its manifestos.

“The BJP has done wrong by snatching the jobs of people just before Diwali. Their manifestos talk about giving employment, but they are taking away the jobs of people who have been working on contracts for the last 30 years. How will these people celebrate Diwali now?” he asked.

“The BJP is a party for snatching jobs and their talk about giving employment is a sham,” Sisodia said, asserting his party stands with the affected workers and will take necessary steps to support them.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva stated, “Like thousands of other contractual workers in Delhi, the hardships faced by the terminated contractual female employees from the DCW are due to the anarchy of Arvind Kejriwal’s government.”

He added that, driven by the intoxication of power, the Kejriwal government filled thousands of contractual and co-terminus posts with both ordinary youths and party-affiliated individuals. “Reports also surfaced alleging the involvement of AAP legislators in these appointments,” the BJP leader said.