In a scathing attack on Centre and Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena over Delhi’s law-and-order situation following a robbery inside the Pragati Maidan tunnel, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that “jungle raj” was prevailing in a city gearing up for the G20 Summit.
He asserted that if the AAP government is given the charge of law and order, it will make Delhi the “safest city” in the country. Union Minister Meenakashi Lekhi hit back, claiming that Kejriwal wants control over the city’s law and order “to protect his corrupt ministers and MLAs”.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of an event to inaugurate new electric vehicle charging stations, Kejriwal said, “It seems that the Centre does not have a solid plan to improve the law-and-order situation in Delhi. Some men carried out a robbery inside the Pragati Maidan underpass. The G20 Summit will be held near the underpass. People are feeling unsafe in Delhi. This is ‘jungle raj’,” the chief minister said. The chief minister also cited another incident and asked, “What is happening in Delhi? Should the national capital have a law and order situation like this?”
A delivery agent and his associate were allegedly robbed of Rs 2 lakh at gunpoint by four motorcycle-borne men inside the Pragati Maidan tunnel. Five people have so far been arrested in connection with the Saturday incident.
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s comments, Lekhi said “Arvind Kejriwal is running a government where the (former) deputy chief minister (Manish Sisodia) is in jail for corruption. His (former) minister Satyendar Jain has recently come out on bail.
“Over 40 MLAs are indulging in corrupt and criminal activities. Tahir Hussain was involved in the killing of an Intelligence Bureau officer in the northeast Delhi riots while Amanatullah Khan was stealing cylinders and storing them in Okhla. I guess it is to protect all these criminals why he (Kejriwal) wants law and order in his hands,” the Union minister claimed.
Earlier, speaking at the inauguration of 42 charging stations, Kejriwal also claimed that pollution levels in the national capital have declined since 2014. Kejriwal inaugurated 42 new ultra-low-cost EV charging stations at an event at GTB Nagar.