The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday accused the Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena for calling the city resident's as thieves and demanded an apology for asking people to pay taxes to the civic body honestly.
The party's reaction came after Saxena in a tweet said that the past financial mismanagement and non-payment of "any property tax" by 75 per cent residents of the city made the municipal corporation of Delhi "go in red", and asked them to pay their dues honestly to make the civic body financially stable.
Addressing a press conference, the newly elected AAP legislator from Rajinder Nagar, Durgesh Pathak termed L-G remarks as a black day in the history of the national Capital. Pathak criticized the remarks made by L-G and called it a ploy to make Delhiites as scapegoats to hide the colossal failure of BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD.
"BJP encashed every opportunity to gobble taxpayer's money to fill its pockets leading MCD into committing corruption in every field be it dengue, medicine, clearing garbage, buying children's books, or house tax collection," Pathak alleged.
Pathak said that since the Kejriwal government has came into power, the budget of Delhi has increased from 25,000 crores in 2015 to 70 thousand crores presently and it was only made possible with people of Delhi paying their taxes diligently.
The AAP MLA alleged that the municipal corporation is facing a financial crisis today, not because of any dishonesty on the part of Delhiites in payment of taxes but the BJP's corrupt regime in the civic body.
He further added that the CAG report spoke volumes showing how Delhi people's resolve made it possible for the government to have revenue surplus budget, with no external aid, a first in the country since Independence.
While states like UP have debt of six crores and Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana are debt-ridden, Delhiites are proud to be debt-free.
"By the grace of God, you (LG) are sitting in a very responsible position and should not behave like a BJP worker.
Delhites only want cleanliness and there is no problem in paying taxes. You should apologise for making such an irresponsible statement as people of Delhi would not tolerate such language," said Pathak.