War of words broke out between the BJP president Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after the former accused the Chief Minister of misleading people with a host of promises. He also sought to know whether the AAP Government has completed any of the promised work in the last five years.
Reacting to the charges, Kejriwal said Shah said nothing other than to "abuse" him. Kejriwal said the Home Minister Amit Shah choose to "abuse" him instead of talking about development and pointing out shortcomings of the AAP-led Government at a rally.
"I heard the entire speech of the Home Minister, Amit Shah ji. I thought he would point out the shortcomings of our work and talk about the development of Delhi. He did not say anything else except abusing me," he said in a tweet.
"If they (BJP) have suggestions for Delhi, then tell and we will implement them in the next five years," Kejriwal said.
Addressing a BJP's booth-level workers' rally, Shah alleged that Kejriwal came to power in Delhi five years back by misleading people with a host of promises. He also accused Kejriwal of "favouring the tukde tukde" gang by not giving sanction to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar, the former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), in the JNU sedition case.
Shah also exuded confidence that the BJP will come to power in Delhi under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP has been out of power in Delhi since 1998. "He promised 20 colleges, I cannot see any even with binoculars. He promised 5,000 schools but they are not visible even with spectacles," Shah said and asked party workers to ensure that the BJP stages a comeback in Delhi after a gap of 20 years.
Asking whether the AAP government has completed any work during its tenure, the BJP president listed the works done by the Centre for Delhi in the last five years.
Urging party workers to undertake door-to-door campaign to take the BJP's message to the people, Shah said he will himself take part in 'mohalla sabha' campaign in the national capital.
The Home Minister also led the party's door-to-door 10-day campaign to spread awareness about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act with top party leaders reaching out to people across the country, amid a wave of protests against the contentious law since it was passed in December.
Shah visited homes in Lajpat Nagar and talked to people about the benefits of the amended citizenship law. He also distributed literature on the subject and urged them to go through it.
The BJP has launched a 'Jan Jagran' (public awareness) campaign to contact three crore families to counter the opposition's campaign against the CAA and inform the masses about its features. The event is a public awareness campaign to apprise people about the outcome of the revocation of Article 370.
Listing various works done by Modi government in Delhi including construction of eastern and western peripheral expressways to reduce pollution, expansion of Delhi Metro, property registries in unauthorised colonies and redevelopment of slums, Shah hit out at the Kejriwal government for falling short of fulfilling his promises on various fronts.
Speaking immediately before Shah, party's West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma led the crowd in chanting "Jai Sri Ram" and dubbed Modi as "Bharat ka laal (son of India) who abrogated Article 370, paved way for construction of Ram temple and provided ownership in unauthorised colonies in Delhi as wished by the people.
Verma invited the BJP president to address the booth level workers, introducing him as the man "who delivered what he promised" and under whose leadership the BJP won 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP working president JP Nadda said that BJP will achieve its target in Assembly polls through dedication and hard work of its workers.
The convention was attended by Union ministers and Assembly poll incharges Prakash Javadekar, Hardeep Puri and Nityanand Rai, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, Union minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP MPs Ramesh Bidhuri, Meenakshi Lekhi, Gautam Gambhi, Hans Raj Hans senior party leader Vijay Malhotra, party vice president Shyam Jaju, election committee convener Tarun Chugh among others.