BJP has done nothing for unauthorised colonies, except insult residents: AAP

NEW DELHI: The BJP has done nothing for the residents of unauthorised colonies except insult them, Delhi Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday, after the saffron party alleged that the AAP government was 'fooling' the people on the issue. The labour minister also sought to know from the BJP what it had done to regularise such colonies when it was in power from 1993 to 1998.

Rai's remark came after senior BJP leader Vijay Goel, during a protest on Thursday at Jantar Mantar, accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of "misleading" the people on regularisation of unauthorised colonies. It is for the first time in its history that the BJP has held a dharna for the residents of unauthorised colonies. Otherwise, it has only insulted the people of such colonies," Rai said.

"In 1993, the BJP came to power in Delhi and had three chief ministers within its five-year term. I want to ask what did it do then for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies? Nothing," he said. The BJP should leave the work of unauthorised colonies to the AAP and the Kejriwal government, Rai said, asking the saffron party to do two important tasks — provide safety and ensure cleanliness in the national capital. The Delhi Police comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs and mayors of all three municipal corporations in the city are from the BJP.

During the protest, which was also attended by Lok Sabha MPs Hans Raj Hans and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Goel attacked the AAP and the Congress, saying, both the parties did nothing to regularise unauthorised colonies during their respective tenures.