New Delhi: Mayors and councillors of BJP-ruled municipal corporations of Delhi along with leaders of the saffron party sat on a 'Satyagrah' on Tuesday near the Aam Aadmi Party's DDU Marg office, demanding payment of funds "due" to the civic bodies.
The Arvind Kejriwal government has never fulfilled its "moral responsibility" towards the municipal corporations and is "hampering" development work by holding back "due" funds worth Rs 13,000 crore, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said at the protest site. The AAP has accused the BJP-ruled municipal corporations of "corruption and inefficiency", with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying in the recent special session of the Delhi Assembly that all due funds have been paid to the civic bodies.
Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash and other BJP leaders participated in the sit-in. Recently, the three mayors and other leaders of the civic bodies had staged a 13-day dharna outside the chief minister's residence but failed to evoke any response on their demand for payment of Rs 13,000 crore.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said that a recent court order regarding the clearance of the pending salary of MCD employees has no mention of the "imaginary Rs 13,000 crore" which the BJP claims that the AAP government has to pay to the
MCDs.